Charles Leclerc maintains it will be "very, very tough" for Ferrari to remain second place in F1 constructors' championship with only four rounds of the season to go.
The Italian team leads the race for the runner-up spot, where it finished last year, but Mercedes is only a single point behind in third, and the resurgent Red Bull has closed the gap in fourth and is now just 10 points adrift.
Having led the charge for second place — behind the untouchable and recently-crowned McLaren — for much of the campaign, the Scuderia fell behind Mercedes after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Following George Russell's victory at the subsequent round, in Singapore, the Prancing Horse found itself in a precarious position; 27 points behind the silver arrows and only eight ahead of the advancing Red Bull.
However, strong performances in Austin and Mexico City have resulted in Ferrari reclaiming control of second in the standings.
Nonetheless, Leclerc believes it will be difficult to hold on as the paddock heads to Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
When asked by media, including RacingNews365, if the SF-25 is fast enough to hold on to the runner-up spot, the Monegasque driver replied: "It's going to be very, very tough.
"If I look back at the last two weekends, yes. If I look before these two weekends, not really."
Ferrari is the only one of the leading four teams in F1 to have not triumphed in a grand prix this season. In fact, it has now gone 12 months since its last victory.
Team principal Fred Vasseur has long insisted the primary focus is retaining second place in the constructors' standings, not returning to the top step of the podium.
Either way, Leclerc wants to see the Maranello-based squad take things one race at a time.
"We just need to focus race by race and do the perfect execution just like we've done in the last two races," the eight-time grand prix winner added.
"That pays off, obviously, as always, but it's very difficult to be performing at this level all the time."
"But that is the standard that we need to target, and hopefully that will be enough to give us second in the constructors."
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