Ferrari has locked the second row for the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz leading the duo but finishing over two-tenths behind Lando Norris’ pole time. Charles Leclerc shared insights about their ‘limitations’ that hampered their chances for pole but remains optimistic about a potential win tomorrow.
The Italian team set the pace during the only practice session, appearing to be the team to beat this weekend. However, they missed out on the sprint pole and spent the initial laps of the sprint race battling each other, which likely cost them a win.
Despite being stuck in dirty air, Ferrari demonstrated impressive race pace and effectively managed their tyres better than their competitors. Leclerc is drawing confidence from this performance as he looks forward to the race.
Leclerc believes he could have improved his time with a second run in Q3 but admits, “It wouldn’t have changed a lot. [It] would have been either P3 or P4.
“With Carlos, it would have been close in the last sector, but it doesn’t change anything for the team. Neither of us were capable of fighting with the top two, they were too fast.”
The Monegasque pointed to the first sector and the initial four turns as areas where they have struggled, which has allowed their rivals to gain time. Ferrari anticipated this challenge based on their performance in the previous three sessions.
“We knew we have a limitation in our car at the moment, and none of the set-up options we thought of would cure that issue.
“In the race, we have a lot less of that issue. That’s why I’m more optimistic for tomorrow’s race.”
Despite the optimism, the Ferrari driver is being cautious about the set-up changes that are likely to be made by rival teams following the sprint and believes they too might be strong in the race.
“I expect the others to improve their car as well, from the sprint race this morning to tomorrow,” he added. “We haven’t changed much, so I think the race pace we’ve seen this morning will be relatively similar to the one we see tomorrow.”
Leclerc suggested that McLaren and Red Bull are likely to improve their car setups for the race. He mentioned the importance of assessing how these changes will affect lap times and expressed confidence that if Ferrari maintains its race pace from the morning, a victory is within reach.
He reiterated that the first 4 corners are where they are losing a lot of lap time. “These three, four corners where we are struggling a lot in quali disappears a little bit in the race. I hope that we will see the same kind of race pace tomorrow,” he added.
Ferrari last won a race in the US in 2018 at COTA when Kimi Räikkönen took his 21st and final F1 win, and Leclerc hopes to end that 6-year winless spell this weekend.
Leclerc believes the main race will confirm Ferrari’s progress with their recent Monza upgrades. He feels confident they’ve grasped the improvements but sees the race as the true test of their advancements.
