"We gave it everything," claims Leclerc after grabbing his fourth podium finish of the season

F1 Grand Prix, GP Austria, Red Bull Ring

Having secured his fourth podium finish of the season at Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he "gave it everything", but the Scuderia will need to work even harder to get "back onto the top step of the podium."

Following a strong qualifying performance, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton started from second and fourth on the grid at today’s Austrian Grand Prix.

The start of the race was aborted and delayed by 15 minutes, after Carlos Sainz was unable to leave the grid on the formation lap. The opening lap saw Kimi Antonelli crash into the back of Max Verstappen's Red Bull which forced the race direction to deploy the the Safety Car.

Leclerc and Hamilton both started on medium tyres and went for a two-stop strategy, switching first to Hard and then back to Medium for the final stint.

Having lost second place to Oscar Piastri after the start, Leclerc delivered a measured performance to grab a podium finish after his third place at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton also had a relatively straightforward race, never really able to challenge his team-mate, but he was able to escape from Mercedes driver George Russell after their intense battle on the opening lap.

Having grabbed a third and fourth place finish at the Red Bull Ring, the Scuderia picked up 27 points and is now back in 2nd place in the Constructors’ championship.

Reflecting on his Austrian Grand Prix, Leclerc stated that he "gave it everything", but the Scuderia will need to work even harder to get "back onto the top step of the podium."

"I rate our weekend as a team really well. We brought some upgrades which helped us to take a step forward and start closing the gap to McLaren. Unfortunately, they were just faster today.

"In the first corner, I wanted to close in on Lando (Norris), but that left the door open for Oscar (Piastri) who was able to pass me for second place.

"I pushed a lot on the first stint and had quite a bit of degradation, but that’s part of the game. We don’t have any regrets today. We gave it everything and extracted the maximum from our race.

"We will continue to work hard to make more progress with the aim of getting back onto the top step of the podium. That’s our main priority and the whole team deserves it."