Charles Leclerc secured P3 in Qualifying for the F1 US GP, marking a dramatic turnaround from a difficult weekend for Ferrari at the Circuit of the Americas, though the Monégasque driver admits the team still has questions to answer about their car’s inconsistent performance.
After a challenging Friday and early Saturday, Leclerc found significantly more pace in Qualifying to line up on the second row behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, providing a lifeline for Ferrari’s race prospects at a circuit where he triumphed twelve months ago.
A welcome but puzzling turnaround
Leclerc was surprised by the improvement Ferrari found between Saturday’s F1 US GP Sprint Race and Qualifying. “Yeah, I mean, it was quite a big surprise, especially considering the weekend that has been very difficult for us since the beginning,” he said. “We tried and put everything together in qualifying. We managed to do so, but I think there are still things we need to understand from this car because there’s a bit too much of a swing of performance in the same weekend without fundamentally changing the car.”
The 28-year-old explained that whilst Ferrari had made adjustments, nothing dramatic had changed with the car. “Well, we’ve changed a few things, but it’s not like there’s been something that we’ve done a massive change with. It was all about fine tuning. There’s something more specific that I’ve changed on my side, which I think went towards my driving style a little bit and maybe that helped.”
However, Leclerc acknowledged that the scale of the performance shift remains a mystery. “But a swing of performance like from yesterday to today is still to be understood, to be completely honest,” he admitted. “There was more wind. We know that with our car, this is normally a strong point, which probably helped us today. But again, it’s a big swing of performance, so we still need to understand.”
Learning from the Sprint
Despite the difficulties, Leclerc believes Ferrari gained valuable information from Saturday morning’s Sprint Race, which they were able to apply in qualifying. “It’s been an interesting Sprint race this morning. I think we’ve learned a lot. We applied that in qualifying, and it seems to be working. So I hope that from now on we kind of catch back a little bit.”
The Sprint provided crucial data that helped Ferrari fine-tune their approach, even if the fundamental reasons for their performance variations remain unclear.
Echoes of 2024—but slower
When asked how this year’s car compares to the Ferrari that dominated at COTA last year, Leclerc painted a sobering picture. “Not that different. It’s just that the overall performance is very poor,” he said bluntly. “So actually, it’s pretty similar to last year in terms of qualifying pace to race pace. We seem to be pretty strong in race pace, but in qualifying pace, we don’t quite find the grip that the others have.”
“Especially in the first sector, we tend to struggle a lot with the grip there and that costs a lot of lap time for the rest of the lap. So, yeah, pretty similar, just slower.”
The lack of Qualifying pace has been a persistent theme for Ferrari, with the team unable to extract the same level of performance over a single lap as their rivals, even when their race pace proves competitive.
Race day hopes
Looking ahead to F1 US GP Race, Leclerc drew on Ferrari’s traditional race pace advantage as a source of optimism. “Our car is normally stronger in the race than it is in qualifying. So that’s a positive,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s strong enough to go and fight with Max and McLaren, but we’ll do everything. Hopefully a good start like this morning or last year and then focus to stay in front.”
However, the Ferrari driver was realistic about his chances of challenging for victory. “I don’t know. A good start like last year probably will help with the free air, but I don’t think that we quite have that pace in the car,” he admitted. “But never say never. I think last year, we were very surprised once we got into free air to see the amount of pace there was in the car. I hope we can have the same surprise tomorrow, but for now, it seems unlikely.”
Leclerc’s victory at COTA in 2024 came partly through his ability to break free at the start and control the race from the front—a scenario he’ll be hoping to replicate, even if he harbours doubts about Ferrari’s outright pace.
The path forward
With teammate Lewis Hamilton qualifying in fifth position, Leclerc carries Ferrari’s hopes for a strong result at the F1 US GP. The unpredictable nature of Ferrari’s performance this weekend—swinging from struggling to competitive—adds an element of uncertainty to Sunday’s race.
“So we’ll look into it,” Leclerc said of understanding the car’s behaviour. For now, though, he’s focused on maximising what could be a surprise opportunity if Ferrari’s race pace lives up to its historical trend.
