Ferrari fail to challenge for pole after leading United States Grand Prix practice

Ferrari looked capable of challenging for pole after practice at the United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had topped both Friday sessions, before Lewis Hamilton was fastest in FP3 after Leclerc’s best lap was deleted. But Ferrari could not carry that momentum into qualifying: its pace levelled off in the closing stages and it failed to make the progress needed in Q3.

Leclerc will start fourth on Sunday’s grid, just ahead of Hamilton in fifth. The fight for the top spot ultimately involved other contenders: Kimi Antonelli set a first Q3 time good enough to take pole ahead of Verstappen.

Ferrari’s limitations showed in two areas: straight-line speed and getting the tyres ready for the final part of qualifying. The car had, however, been strong in the slower corners. During practice, the team had also found time through Turns 6-10, at the end of the esses, and the high-speed Turns 16-19.

Leclerc linked Ferrari’s fade in Q3 partly to the change in track temperature. “It’s very disappointing. There have been other weekends when we were strong in practice, but in qualifying it’s clear the others have a lot more speed on the straights and it’s very difficult for us to match that,” he said.

He felt the car had the potential to do better, but the tyres were not in the right place at the decisive moment. “In Q3 it was maybe one or two degrees cooler, and for me that made a huge difference. I was sliding a lot from the out-lap, which made things very difficult after that,” he said. He also acknowledged that Ferrari needed to understand the tyres better: in his view, rivals find it easier to extract performance in Q3, while Ferrari pays heavily for even a small departure from the ideal operating window.

The Ferrari chassis keeps tyre temperatures relatively cool in race trim. That comes at a cost over a single lap: it becomes harder to heat the tyres as required in qualifying, especially when the track temperature falls. Hamilton, by contrast, described a successful out-lap to prepare his tyres and a relatively clean final lap, without the problems Leclerc experienced.

Leclerc also highlighted Ferrari’s lack of straight-line speed. He believes rivals have caught up with the team through the corners, while Ferrari has not closed the gap on the straights. Martin Brundle, meanwhile, said the front looked very close, with McLaren and Mercedes also in contention. The contrast between Ferrari’s promise in practice and its qualifying result leaves the team with two issues to address: making better use of its tyres as the track cools, and recovering straight-line speed.