Charles Leclerc after qualifying P6 at the United States GP - Photo: RacePictures

Ferrari's overnight United States GP improvement surprises Leclerc

11:46, 19 Oct

byBen Winship

Charles Leclerc has yet to understand the reason behind Ferrari’s improved performance in United States GP qualifying.

“It's a very big swing of performance and we've got to understand the full extent of it.

- Charles Leclerc speaking to F1 TV after qualifying

The Ferrari driver qualified an impressive P3, just 0.297 seconds behind polesitter Max Verstappen, with teammate Lewis Hamilton P5 and 0.402 seconds off the pace.

It marks a dramatic improvement in performance for Ferrari since sprint qualifying on Friday. Hamilton only just made it into SQ3 and qualified P8 and 0.892 behind the leader. Leclerc was an even more distant P10 and 0.961 seconds away from the front.

Leclerc surprised by Ferrari’s strong pace

Ferrari’s strong qualifying puts them in and around constructors championship rivals Red Bull and Mercedes for Sunday’s race.

Speaking to F1TV after qualifying Leclerc said: “I'm very happy, especially the way we worked as a team. I think we turned a very tough situation around, especially yesterday in sprint qualifying, we struggled a lot. The car was really difficult to drive and today was in a much better place, so I was really happy with that.

The top 3 for United States GP qualifying - Photo: Race Pictures

“But we need to understand exactly what is due to this swing of performance because it's a really big swing of performance from struggling to get into Q2 and Q3 yesterday to being pretty close to pole without the traffic in sector 2 today.

“So it's a very big swing of performance and we've got to understand the full extent of it.

"I've got some answers. I don't know if the answers I've got are as powerful to justify the whole amount but we'll look into it.”

Potential for an even stronger Sunday

Ferrari are currently winless in the 2025 season, with Hamilton’s sprint race victory at the second event in China their highlight of the season so far.

Poll

Leclerc has five podium finishes this season and is optimistic about his chances on Sunday.

Speaking to F1TV he said: “I'm pretty confident that it will be better compared to today.

“Already today was much better compared to yesterday’s qualifying yesterday, so I think our performance will be better in the race than in qualifying which is a good sign.

“But I think eventually everything will be down to the start and free air. If we are behind other cars after turn one then it's going to be tough, if we're in front of everybody then it's going to be easier.”

Ferrari are currently on track for their first winless season since the back-to-back disappointments of 2020 and 2021.

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