Ferrari’s hopes of securing a first pole position of the 2026 Formula 1 season disappeared in the final moments of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, despite Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton having dominated the three practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas. The Maranello team will start Sunday’s race from fourth and fifth respectively, with a small change in track temperature proving particularly costly for Charles Leclerc in Q3.
The latest SF-26 upgrades appear to have delivered encouraging results, but Ferrari once again failed to bring everything together when it mattered most. Although the performance demonstrated throughout the weekend suggested that pole position was within reach, the decisive session exposed familiar difficulties in extracting the car’s full potential. Attention now turns to the race, where the start, tyre degradation and strategy could offer opportunities to recover lost ground.
Kimi Antonelli eventually secured pole position for Mercedes with an excellent final lap, denying Max Verstappen, who had appeared to be the favourite. Ferrari, meanwhile, slipped backwards at the crucial moment despite having set the pace throughout free practice, with Charles Leclerc fastest in FP1 and FP2 before Lewis Hamilton topped FP3.
The Italian team had remained competitive until the end of Q2, when Charles Leclerc recorded the fastest lap of the session with a 1:34.198. However, the performance that had made Ferrari a serious contender suddenly became much harder to reproduce in Q3.
Ferrari’s Austin upgrades show promise but fail to deliver pole position
Ferrari arrived in Austin with its final major development package for the SF-26, introducing changes to several important aerodynamic areas, including the floor, plank and sidepod inlets. Despite these modifications, neither Ferrari driver managed to secure pole position or even a place on the front row.
The upgrades had initially been assessed cautiously by Charles Leclerc during Thursday’s media activities, but their performance throughout the weekend suggested they were delivering improvements. Ferrari’s competitiveness in practice and the opening stages of qualifying offered encouraging signs that the team had made progress.
The latest Ferrari SF-26 aerodynamic upgrades were intended to improve the car’s overall performance, and the early running indicated that the revised package was working. The challenge, however, remained translating that potential into the single fastest lap when the pressure increased.
Until the end of Q2, the SF-26 had also recorded the best sector times across the three sections of the circuit. Charles Leclerc was particularly competitive in the first and third sectors, sharing the fastest first-sector benchmark with Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, consistently demonstrated impressive performance through the second sector, where Ferrari shared the leading benchmark with Mercedes.
That middle section combines technical corners with the long straight between Turns 11 and 12, an area where power-unit performance becomes particularly important. Mercedes demonstrated its strength in this part of the circuit, while Ferrari’s overall competitiveness suggested that a fight with Red Bull might develop in the final qualifying session.
Mercedes had appeared to be slightly behind until the conclusion of Q2, but the situation changed dramatically in the closing moments of qualifying. Kimi Antonelli produced the decisive lap, while Ferrari could not reproduce its earlier speed.
Fred Vasseur believes the upgrades have worked, although Ferrari continues to find itself chasing its rivals. At the eighteenth round of the championship, the team is still searching for its first pole position of the season.
Charles Leclerc explains Ferrari’s Q3 tyre-temperature problem
One of the biggest questions after qualifying concerned the sudden disappearance of Ferrari’s pace in Q3. Charles Leclerc provided an explanation during his interview with Sky, identifying tyre-temperature management as the decisive issue.
“As soon as everything isn’t perfect with tyre management, we lose a huge amount. What happened in Q3 really pissed me off because, until Q3, things had been going well. The track cooled by just one degree, yet for me it made an enormous difference between Q2 and Q3,” Charles Leclerc explained.
The frustration was understandable given that the Monegasque had finished Q2 in first place. A seemingly insignificant reduction in track temperature was enough to affect the SF-26’s behaviour and prevent him from extracting the same level of performance in the final session.
As a result, Charles Leclerc could do no better than fourth, and Ferrari was no longer fastest in any of the three sectors during Q3. The one-degree temperature difference had a substantial impact, while the Italian team’s power-unit deficit compared with Mercedes also proved costly during the decisive phase.
There were further time losses in the final corners, where mistakes cost valuable hundredths of a second, as Fred Vasseur subsequently acknowledged. With the margins extremely tight, Ferrari’s inability to execute a complete lap made the difference between challenging for pole and settling for positions on the second and third rows.
Lewis Hamilton’s performance also became less convincing from the second half of Q2 onwards. Speaking to Sky after qualifying, the seven-time world champion did not offer an extensive explanation of his difficulties, instead acknowledging Mercedes’ improvements and maintaining an optimistic outlook for Sunday’s race.
Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton recognised that fourth and fifth were not ideal starting positions for Ferrari, especially after the pace demonstrated during free practice.
Fred Vasseur admits Ferrari failed to put everything together
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged that the team had the potential to achieve more during the United States Grand Prix weekend. However, the Frenchman also recognised that Ferrari had struggled to extract that potential at the decisive moment, a recurring problem in recent races.
“I think we had the opportunity to do much better this weekend, but this is the result and we have to keep it in mind to focus on the race. The potential was there. This weekend we took a step forward in terms of pure performance, but putting together the perfect lap is a different exercise. We certainly need to do a better job on Saturday afternoons, but the performance was difficult to extract today, even though it was there,” Fred Vasseur explained.
The comments underline the contrast between Ferrari’s encouraging raw pace and its continuing inability to convert that performance into the strongest possible qualifying result. The team has repeatedly found itself in situations where the car appears capable of more than the final classification suggests.
Vasseur remained relatively guarded when discussing the updates and Ferrari’s overall performance, particularly when questioned about how rival teams continue to make the difference at the decisive moment.
Although the team principal confirmed that the latest upgrades had worked, he was less specific about the other problems. Instead, Fred Vasseur emphasised that Ferrari needed to concentrate on its own execution rather than focusing on what its competitors were achieving.
The challenge now is to turn the improved underlying performance into a stronger result over a full Grand Prix distance, where tyre management, strategic decisions and race circumstances will introduce different variables.
Ferrari’s United States GP strategy: tyre degradation could create opportunities
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Fred Vasseur expects tyre degradation and the opening lap to play particularly important roles. Although Ferrari could struggle on the straights because of its top-speed deficit, the team principal believes the race could offer numerous opportunities.
“We will have enormous degradation and I think it will be a race full of opportunities. We will struggle a little because of our lack of top speed, but tyre degradation will be the most important factor. Over the last ten years in Austin, Turn 1 has always been very difficult, so let’s focus on the start, try to get away well and negotiate the first braking zone properly, then see where we are at Turn 2,” Fred Vasseur explained.
For Ferrari, a strong start could be particularly valuable. Compared with Singapore, Austin offers more overtaking opportunities, but gaining positions immediately at Turn 1 could still make a considerable difference later in the race, when drivers begin managing their tyres more carefully.
Dirty air could also become a problem for cars following closely behind, making track position an important consideration even at a circuit where overtaking is more achievable.
According to Pirelli’s expectations, the United States Grand Prix is likely to be contested using a one-stop strategy. The hardest compound available, the C2 marked with white sidewalls, might not feature prominently, with teams instead favouring combinations of the soft and medium tyres.
Friday’s race simulations were conducted on the soft and medium compounds, with lap times around 1:41. The tyre choices available to Ferrari could therefore become particularly significant, especially if Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton adopt different approaches.
As Pirelli’s assessment of the Austin race strategy indicates, tyre selection and the conditions at the Circuit of the Americas could have a substantial influence on how Sunday’s Grand Prix develops.
One possibility is that both Ferrari drivers could start on the red-marked soft compound to adopt a more aggressive approach. Alternatively, the team could split its strategies once again, giving Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton different options depending on how the race unfolds.
The relationship between tyre compounds, stint lengths and performance can also be explored through the ScuderiaFans F1 tyre and stint analysis, which provides additional context for understanding the strategic decisions made during Grand Prix races.
Can Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton fight for the podium in Austin?
When asked whether Ferrari could realistically target a podium finish, Fred Vasseur avoided making a direct prediction. Instead, the team principal stressed the importance of concentrating on performance and completing a strong race.
Tyre degradation remains central to Ferrari’s expectations, with effective tyre management potentially creating opportunities to gain positions as the Grand Prix progresses. However, overtaking the cars ahead will not be straightforward.
Kimi Antonelli starts from pole position in a Mercedes that appears to have an advantage over the rest of the field, while Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will also line up ahead of the two Ferrari drivers.
Isack Hadjar, carrying number 6, could represent a more accessible target for Ferrari, whereas Max Verstappen is likely to prove a considerably greater obstacle. Once the Dutch driver establishes a gap, catching him can become extremely difficult.
That makes the opening corner especially important. Turn 1 at the Circuit of the Americas is a demanding braking zone where drivers can gain several positions, but mistakes and contact are also possible.
There is also a relevant precedent from the previous United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc started third behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris but managed to overtake the McLaren driver at the start, demonstrating how quickly the order can change during the opening metres.
Ferrari will be hoping for a similarly effective launch this time, with both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton attempting to recover from their fourth- and fifth-place grid positions.
Ultimately, the team’s prospects may depend on the combination of a clean opening lap, effective tyre management and well-executed strategic decisions. With the SF-26 upgrades showing encouraging signs but qualifying once again ending in disappointment, Sunday’s 2026 United States Grand Prix at COTA offers Ferrari another opportunity to demonstrate its improved competitiveness.
Whether Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton can turn that potential into a podium finish remains to be seen, but the decisions made at the start and on the pit wall could prove decisive.
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