Lewis Hamilton believes even a "step up" on Sunday would see him merely competing for second after ruling out victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Seven-time Formula One champion Hamilton qualified in fourth behind Sergio Perez, surprise 2021 star Lando Norris and championship leader Max Verstappen, who has pole.
Verstappen, who is 18 points clear, won at the Red Bull Ring last week and is the only F1 driver with three victories at his team's home circuit.
Fourth place (Verstappen in 2018) is the furthest back a race winner has triumphed from since Spielberg returned to the calendar in 2014, but Hamilton does not believe such a recovery is possible.
On the weekend he committed to Mercedes until 2023, the Briton believes he is set to tie his longest winless run over a single season (five races – also twice in 2016).
"I don't," Hamilton replied when asked if he thought he could steal a strategic win. "We definitely can't take it to the Red Bulls, obviously. They're just too fast.
"But maybe we can step up, I guess my race now is with the two guys ahead of me – trying to get past them."
He added: "On pure pace, [winning] is definitely out of the question.
"Those guys have got two cars to get through in front, and they've got three-tenths on us. I think they've improved their car again for this weekend.
"So, I would say that's an easy cruise win for Max. I think for us it's to try to see if we can get ahead of Perez and try to limit the damage this weekend."
Hamilton at least fared better than two of his former title rivals, with Sebastian Vettel handed a grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso in Q2.
Vettel will start from 11th, having qualified in eighth, while Alonso is back in 14th.
"I guess the weekend is over now for us, but nothing we can do," Alonso said.
Ahead of Vettel's expected punishment, which was later confirmed, the Spaniard added: "It will change something for them, but for us it will change everything on the weekend.
"I don't think that Seb could do much more because, inside the car, we are just relying on our engineers, so I guess it was more the team than Seb himself."
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
Norris 'surprised' by pole and expects tough Monza test
Lando Norris admitted his pole position at the Italian Grand Prix was "a surprise" after McLaren secured a second qualifying one-two of the season at Monza.
Norris, who is aiming to become the first McLaren driver since Lewis Hamilton in 2010 to win consecutive races, looks good to close the gap to championship leader Max Verstappen, who finished in seventh.
The Briton was just 0.109 seconds ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri, with Mercedes' George Russell 0.113s off the pace in third after an incredibly tight Saturday session.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth for Ferrari at the team's home event, with Hamilton in sixth.
Sergio Perez enjoyed a better qualifying session this time around and will start the race in eighth, while Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.
Norris pipped Piastri by just 0.035s on his first lap in the top-10 shootout, before improving his time on his second attempt despite not being happy with his lap.
"To have a first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend is a little bit of a surprise, but a nice one," Norris said.
"My lap, it hurts me to say it, was not a great lap. My first one was. But still good enough for pole and still very happy.
"There are a lot of quick drivers behind in quick cars, so I am not expecting an easy race. Plenty of question marks but a lot of excitement, I'm sure."
Verstappen, however, struggled with balance in the final qualifying session, having been expected to battle the two McLarens after a strong showing in Q2.
The three-time champion described the car as "shocking" at one point, and will have to come from midfield to claim a first win since the Spanish Grand Prix.
Should the Dutchman fail to win at Monza, it will be the first time since the 2020 season he has gone six races without a victory. He had a run of 11 winless races in a row that year from Spain to Sakhir.
"Q3 was very bad on both of my tyre sets. I just picked up a lot of understeer so I couldn't attack any corners any more," Verstappen said.
"I had to back it out a lot mid-corner and you lose a lot of lap time like that.
"Somehow in Q2 it wasn’t that bad. I did a 1:19.6 at that point and we were almost the quickest. We know our limitations and problems but at that point I think we had it fairly under control.
"But I went into Q3 and the balance was completely out, and I don't really understand how that happened."
Qualifying results
1. Lando Norris (McLaren)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. George Russell (Mercedes)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
7. Max Versappen (Red Bull)
8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
9. Alex Albon (Williams)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
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