Pole position might still have been out of reach, but there were realistic chances of doing well. The goal was to fight for a spot on the front rows and then play their cards in the race, aiming to bring home valuable points in the constructors’ battle. But the rain completely disrupted Ferrari’s plan, acting like a cold shower that did not reflect the ambitions and dry-weather potential of the Maranello car.
The ninth place in the final standings, almost two seconds from pole, instead reflects Charles Leclerc’s words after qualifying. He expected to struggle more than he had on the dry track, especially given Ferrari’s chronic difficulties in wet conditions — a limit the Monegasque has had to live with ever since he joined the team.
Las Vegas amplified Ferrari’s chronic weaknesses
If certain elements had helped Ferrari at other circuits, Las Vegas did the opposite. The characteristics of the track amplified the team’s weaknesses, especially those related to tyre management. On a circuit like this one, under specific conditions, the biggest gains come from making the tyres work well — often more than from the traditional strengths of the car itself.
Both Ferrari drivers arrived in qualifying with different setups, but the underlying problems were the same. After running with a lower-downforce rear wing in FP3, they split their paths: Lewis Hamilton kept the Monza-spec rear wing, while Charles Leclerc went back to a higher-downforce option previously tested only in FP1 and then discarded in FP2.
It was a logical choice aimed at providing more rear support, especially on exit from the numerous slow sections leading onto the long Las Vegas straights. But it did not matter, because Ferrari once again struggled to make the tyres work in wet conditions. When mechanical grip disappears under rain — especially in slow corners — the gap tends to grow dramatically, resulting in a qualifying outcome that does not reflect what the car showed on a dry track.
Why the gap increased on intermediate tyres
Those limitations appeared both on full wets, as shown by Lewis Hamilton’s elimination, and on intermediates in Q3, where the gap became even more evident. The design of the full wets used in Q1 and Q2 incorporates numerous small tread blocks which move under load, generating heat and improving the search for grip — a crucial factor on a cold track just above 10°C.
The intermediate tyre, however, has a different design and, although generally liked by many drivers, behaves differently from the full wet. Ferrari struggled to find grip on a track that was no longer fully wet but still extremely cold, and the low speeds in the slow sectors made it difficult to generate tyre temperature.
This came despite Ferrari’s attempt to take a different approach to overcome its issues, such as choosing to enter the track first in qualifying. It was a smart decision, theoretically allowing an extra timed lap compared to those leaving later, while also giving the team more control over the out-lap pace — an aspect Ferrari engineers have focused heavily on in recent weekends.
Grip was missing in the slow sections: one second lost in sector two
Just as interesting was the approach used during the cooldown laps. Like other drivers, Charles Leclerc had to reduce the pace to avoid overstressing the intermediates. At the same time, he tried not to slow down too much, attempting to push just enough to generate temperature in the tyres. Ferrari tried to handle the situation sensibly, but unfortunately it still was not enough.
It is therefore no surprise that Charles Leclerc made several mistakes, with the second sector — the sequence of corners 5–6–7–8–9 — being the most critical point. In that part of the track, the Monegasque lost around eight tenths, divided between the braking into turn 5, which alone cost three tenths due to a lack of confidence in the front axle, the mid-corner phase, and the exit, where the rear tended to slide because of poor grip.
This deficit weighed double. On one hand, Ferrari, with the higher-downforce wing and a different hybrid deployment, was already losing time on the straights. On the other hand, exiting the corners more slowly amplified its traction issues even further. As a result, the gap accumulated in the middle sector affected the entire lap, making it impossible to get close to the times of the rivals.
Now, the hope is that the race — a more favourable scenario for Ferrari — will help restore better performance in dry conditions. But the path ahead remains difficult.
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