Ferrari surprises in Austin qualifying: the explanation behind the fluctuating performance
Ferrari came back to life in Austin, with Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur sharing his thoughts after qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. The Maranello team did not start the weekend on the right foot in Texas, with Friday proving to be a day to forget. Things, however, turned around on Saturday, starting with the Sprint, where Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth respectively. During qualifying for the main race, both Ferrari drivers managed to extract strong performance from the car, even if they narrowly missed out on a front-row start.
Ferrari began Q1 with good pace, placing first and third early in the session. By the end of that segment, Charles Leclerc had dropped to fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was eighth. The second qualifying phase (Q2) also started positively for the Scuderia, with Charles Leclerc in second and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Their initial flying laps were solid enough to secure safe passage into Q3, and the team decided not to complete an additional run at the end of the session.
The first attempts in Q3, however, almost undid Ferrari’s earlier progress. Charles Leclerc spun at the final corner, while Lewis Hamilton made a mistake at Turn 1. This left them ninth and tenth at the start of the decisive runs. For the final attempt, Ferrari chose to send both cars out earlier than their rivals — a strategy that ultimately paid off, particularly for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver set the third-fastest time, just behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Hamilton, meanwhile, finished the session in fifth place, delivering a respectable result despite his earlier error.
Fred Vasseur’s analysis after Austin qualifying
Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur explained what allowed the Scuderia to gain ground compared to the Sprint qualifying session. During the final Q3 attempt, Ferrari made the unusual choice to send their drivers out first, ensuring they had a clear track for their preparation laps. It was the first time all weekend that Ferrari used this strategy. “Sometimes, it’s better to prepare your lap alone without focusing too much on the track evolution,” Fred Vasseur noted. “We executed a solid session because of that choice. Every lap was well-prepared, and in the end, we reaped the benefits.”
Fred Vasseur then went into more detail about why the out-lap and tire preparation are so crucial. The performance of the Ferrari SF-25 throughout this weekend — and indeed, across the season — has fluctuated considerably. According to the Frenchman, the issue is not rooted in the car’s setup, but rather in the management of tire temperatures. “The way you prepare the tires, how you bring them into the correct temperature and pressure window — that’s a key factor,” he explained. “It can cause major performance swings, much more than the car’s raw potential itself.”
The Ferrari boss concluded by briefly addressing the issues experienced by Lewis Hamilton during the Sprint Race, shedding light on the cause of his understeer problems. “Understeer appears as soon as you’re following another car closely,” Fred Vasseur said. “And that was the case for Lewis, who was running about a second behind Carlos Sainz for most of the Sprint.”
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