Charles Leclerc admitted Red Bull is "in another league" on race pace as he accepted third place in Azerbaijan.
The Monegasque ended the Milton Keynes-based team's dominance in qualifying this season with a third straight pole position around the Baku City Circuit.
But Leclerc had no answer to the straight-line speed and performance of Red Bull over a stint as both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez sped past and into the sunset.
"They are in another league when it comes to the race," he stated. “The really good [qualifying] lap managed to put us at the front, but over 51 laps it was just not possible [to fight them].
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"They have so much more pace than we do in race pace, that’s where we need to make the biggest step forwards.
"In qualifying over one lap, with the juice of the tyres taking a bit more risk, we managed to do two poles.
"I think they've found something we didn’t yet, and that’s where our focus is at the moment.
"Everybody is working flat out to try and understand what we can do in the races, to just get more performance.”
Much of Leclerc's race involved a cat-and-mouse battle with Fernando Alonso, as the Spaniard challenged for his fourth straight P3 of the season.
But for each attack the Spaniard tried, Charles just had an answer, crossing the line just 0.8s ahead.
"I think Aston Martin is quicker than us and has a better car than us in race pace," he said.
“[Fernando] was pushing. I knew what his intention was at the beginning because he always does that - trying to keep the tyres at the beginning of the stint and trying to push at the end - so I was trying to do the same.
“At the end, it was close but not enough for Fernando today," Leclerc smiled. "[But] the Aston Martin was really quick today, so we still have a lot of work to do.
“We have some upgrades coming but I don’t expect miracles. Hopefully, these small changes will keep them behind.”
Leclerc also welcomed what was easily his best weekend of the season so far as he more than quadrupled his points tally from the opening three races.
“I’m here to win and obviously second, third, is not what I want," he acknowledged. "[But] considering the first three races which we’ve had, scoring six points in three races, this weekend is better.
"We didn’t have any problems, it was a trouble-free weekend. I think when I look back at the weekend [and] every single session, I think we maximised absolutely everything.
"So on that, we should be happy, on the other hand, there is still work to do."
