Ferrari left the 2026 United States Grand Prix with mixed feelings after an impressive display of race pace suggested that the SF-26 had the potential to fight for victory in Austin. While Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured another win for Mercedes and moved closer to the world championship, the Scuderia was left reflecting on an opportunity that might have been within reach with a stronger qualifying performance.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has now reached nine career victories, with his Austin success arguably the least expected before the weekend began. The Italian driver found a way to make Mercedes’ troublesome upgrades work, restoring the competitiveness of the W17 and strengthening the team’s prospects for 2027. Ferrari, meanwhile, secured a bittersweet podium, knowing that its car had shown the performance needed to challenge for the win.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli solves Mercedes’ upgrade problems and closes in on the title
Mercedes needed a perfect weekend to return to winning ways after its latest development package had unsettled the car, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli delivered exactly that. His victory in Texas began with an extraordinary pole position on Saturday, when the Italian drove on the limit while carefully avoiding excessive tyre overheating before the third sector.
In the race, Andrea Kimi Antonelli started on medium tyres while his rivals opted for softs, but he made no mistakes at the start. That was particularly significant given his tendency to make occasional errors off the line earlier in the season. Once in front, the advantage of clean air and the medium compound allowed him to manage tyre wear and extend his opening stint. Mercedes could therefore execute a one-stop strategy, switching to hard tyres without having to fight through traffic.
Crossing the finish line in first place brought Andrea Kimi Antonelli another step closer to his first world championship, while also providing encouragement for 2027. Mercedes had arrived in Austin determined to solve the problems created by its latest upgrades, experimenting with the mechanical set-up to make an aerodynamic package introduced at Sepang work properly. Those developments had altered the car’s balance, leaving the W17 competitive through medium- and high-speed corners but struggling to rotate through slower sections.
The team made substantial set-up changes overnight between Friday and Saturday to find a workable compromise. However, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s driving also proved decisive, as he once again established a huge advantage over George Russell. Beyond his natural speed and tyre management, the Italian is demonstrating an adaptability that should prove valuable in 2027, when Mercedes will race an evolution of the car that returned to winning form in Austin.
Ferrari’s missed Austin victory leaves a sense of regret
Ferrari secured another podium in Texas, confirming an excellent overall performance while also leaving a sense of frustration in Maranello. Both SF-26 cars displayed enviable race pace, although there was no direct comparison with Andrea Kimi Antonelli on an identical strategy.
There is also a strong argument that, without the late Virtual Safety Car, Lewis Hamilton would have caught Max Verstappen, with an excellent chance of overtaking the Red Bull driver to claim the final podium position.
The impression from Austin is that Ferrari had everything needed to fight for victory had its drivers started from stronger grid positions. Championships cannot be won through hypothetical scenarios, but the Italian team’s limited effectiveness on Saturdays once again proved costly, as it has on several other occasions. The contrast between Ferrari’s qualifying performances and its race results can be explored through the Ferrari qualifying and race performance statistics.
After qualifying, Charles Leclerc complained about the difficulty of bringing the tyres into their operating window following a drop of just a couple of degrees in track temperature during Q3. According to the Monegasque, part of the responsibility lay with the set-up compromise, which may have placed too much emphasis on managing the tyres over longer distances rather than maximising performance over a single lap.
Ferrari’s Austin upgrades deliver progress in a crucial area
Despite the disappointment, the United States Grand Prix provided confirmation that Ferrari’s latest upgrades had delivered a positive step forward. While developments had compromised the driveability of the McLaren and Mercedes cars, the Scuderia avoided a similar setback and improved the performance of its SF-26.
The most encouraging development was the car’s competitiveness through the slow corners of the third sector. This had been precisely the type of corner that represented one of Ferrari’s main weaknesses until Singapore, making the improvement particularly significant. The gains also provide an encouraging indication regarding the effectiveness of the four key aerodynamic changes introduced on the Ferrari SF-26 in Austin.
However, determining how much of the improvement came from set-up decisions and how much resulted directly from the upgrades remains difficult. The Mexican Grand Prix will therefore offer another opportunity to understand whether the improvement can be replicated under different conditions.
Red Bull struggles in Austin with more than reliability problems
Max Verstappen’s evident frustration reflected the difficulties experienced by Red Bull, which was unable to reproduce the dominance it had shown in Malaysia and Singapore. Technical issues contributed to its lack of race pace, including engine-braking problems and Max Verstappen’s suspicion that debris had become trapped beneath the floor of his RB22.
Isack Hadjar also encountered difficulties after his pit stop, having to manage a throttle that did not respond during the first half of the pedal’s travel.
Regardless of those problems, Red Bull simply did not demonstrate the same competitiveness it had enjoyed at the previous two events. Nevertheless, Austin confirmed that the team remains capable of challenging for podium positions even at an exceptionally technical and varied circuit.
McLaren’s difficulties continue as Mercedes looks towards 2027
McLaren’s difficult period continued in Austin, extending a sequence that has seen the team consistently operate as the fourth-fastest force since the beginning of autumn. Lando Norris has repeatedly maintained that the problem is not a lack of outright pace or potential in the MCL40, but rather the difficulty both drivers face in extracting that performance consistently while having to drive aggressively at all times.
For the reigning world champions, the outlook ahead of 2027 is therefore far from ideal. Mercedes, by contrast, has rediscovered the path to victory, helped by Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s ability to adapt to changing car characteristics.
The Italian demonstrated once again in Texas why he deserves the world championship he is now approaching. For Ferrari, meanwhile, Austin delivered an encouraging assessment of its latest developments, but also another reminder that strong Sunday performance is not always enough when valuable ground has already been lost during qualifying.
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