Charles Leclerc feels Ferrari's lack of straight-line speed will leave he and Lewis Hamilton "exposed" to rivals at the Italian Grand Prix.
The two Scuderia drivers are primed to attack off the line, with Leclerc starting third and Hamilton fourth behind the all-Mercedes-powered front-row of Pierre Gasly's Alpine customer machine and the works entry of George Russell.
From behind, Max Verstappen in the RBPT-powered Red Bull and the McLaren-Mercedes of Oscar Piastri fill the third row at a track Ferrari always knew it would struggle for top-end straight-line grunt.
Although the team has deployed a new ADUO-assisted engine upgrade for the weekend, the team is still suffering from a fundamental issue in the architecture of the engine, in that the turbo is significantly smaller than rivals'.
This means the SF-26 power unit is responsive at low speeds and provides excellent traction on corner exit due to lower turbo lag, but also means the car does not produce the same top speeds as other suppliers, such as Mercedes HPP.
The Ferrari chassis is regarded as the class-leader through the corners, but on a circuit dominated by long straights, Leclerc feels he and Hamilton could be "exposed" during the race.
"I expect us to be stronger, but it is also true that on the straights, we are going to struggle," Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365.
"We are going to be quite exposed to the others, but we are fast in the corners, so I hope that this helps us stay with them.
"I think yo-yo racing will be a thing, apart from if we all magically align on the same tyre strategy, which I doubt because there are some physical limits that we cannot... I mean, they are powering through on the straights.
"There are straights where we need to choose where we don't put the power, but Mercedes is powering on the straights where we cannot put power.
"So there will, by default, be a big difference on some straights, but let's see if we can find any miracle by surprising them at other points."
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