Charles Leclerc says motivation remains high within the Ferrari camp ahead of the F1 US GP, despite the team’s ongoing struggles to secure a race win this season.
Fresh off yet another lacklustre weekend in Singapore, Leclerc was asked whether there’s still anything meaningful to fight for in the remaining six races, or if attention has shifted to the 2026 campaign. The Monégasque—who celebrated his 28th birthday on media day in Austin—politely rejected suggestions that recent struggles had left him feeling “depressed” or demoralised.
“No, no, no, I mean, I wouldn’t use the word depressed,” he said.
“Of course, disappointed of coming home with no podiums, but that’s the same for the whole team, I think. As Ferrari, we are well aware what our targets [are] and what we should do and at the moment, we came short of what we want to do and whenever this happens, then there’s disappointment and there was disappointment on my side as well.”
Ferrari still motivated to “turn the situation around”
Leclerc added that there’s still “huge motivation” within the team to turn things around before the end of the year. He believes clean execution could allow Ferrari to take advantage on weekends like Austin, which sees the return of F1’s Sprint format.
“But there’s a huge motivation to try and turn the situation around and to at least do something special before the end of the season,” he continued.
“Surely we don’t quite have the raw performance that McLaren or Red Bull can have and even Mercedes now, but if we do everything perfect…It’s not like we are second off and if we do everything perfect, I think there are still opportunities, especially on weekends like this where it’s a sprint weekend and for that, I’m looking forward to it. But yeah, it’s not been an easy two last weekends for sure.”
Bumpy COTA surface not expected to cause issues
The circuit is notorious for its punishing bumps, which often forces teams to compromise on ride height. Ferrari’s double disqualification for excessive plank at the Chinese GP earlier this year prompted questions about whether similar issues might plague the team again in Austin. Leclerc, however, downplayed the likelihood of a Shanghai repeat.
He stated: “I don’t think that it’s going to be more of a challenge for us than it is for others.
“Obviously, it’s one of those things that we’ve got to think of coming to this track, but I think it’s in everybody’s mind and I don’t think there’s a team that gets more advantage from it. We’ve had some issues at the beginning of the year in some tracks, but I don’t think that those issues are the same now, so I don’t expect it to be an issue this weekend.”
Ferrari’s deficit, explained
Asked where Ferrari trails Red Bull and McLaren on performance, Leclerc said the gap isn’t limited to one area.
“At the moment, there’s not one specific corner where we are losing all the time,” he explained. “If you look over the lap, it’s kind of a little bit everywhere. They just have more grip and more grip available, and that’s where we are focusing on trying to improve. Then, of course, we’ve got weak points on our car that you’re always trying to tackle more than others, but we just need more overall grip in order to match the lap times.”
Battle for P2 still alive in the Constructors’
Despite Mercedes recently moving ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, Leclerc believes second place is still attainable in the final stretch of the season.
“I mean, I don’t know how many points there are in between us, but I think they overtook us recently, so yeah,” he said. “It can swing one way or another very, very quickly, especially on the Constructors, where you’ve got both cars. So we’ve got to stay on it, and then the target is still to finish P2 in that championship, as obviously McLaren already won. So yeah, that’s the target, and I think a realistic one. I think Mercedes did a really good job recently in doing a step forward, but we are definitely not giving up.”
He also addressed Ferrari’s dip in form since the summer break, acknowledging that other teams have brought more upgrades while Ferrari has largely shifted focus to 2026.
“I definitely think that maybe some teams are pushing a little bit more towards this end of the season with upgrades,” he said. “We didn’t particularly have [major upgrades] in that last part, thinking more about next year, which is not something I regret, and something that I hope will pay off.
“But I do think that the others did a step forward that we didn’t do in those last few races, and that kind of gave them the edge. So that’s the reality of the situation at the moment. But as I said, I think if we do everything perfect, we can still have a shot at doing a very good result and to fight for the P2 in the championship with Mercedes.”
