Charles Leclerc’s second-place finish at the 2026 United States Grand Prix has been described as almost half a victory for Ferrari, with Italian Formula 1 commentator Pino Allievi praising the Monegasque’s return to his attacking best. However, the encouraging performance in Austin has also renewed questions about why the Scuderia has achieved so little success despite what Allievi considers a highly promising technical project.
Kimi Antonelli claimed victory for Mercedes at the Circuit of the Americas, leaving Ferrari to settle for the runner-up position. Nevertheless, Charles Leclerc’s performance attracted considerable attention, with the Italian team’s improved competitiveness offering a rare positive assessment during an otherwise disappointing 2026 campaign.
Charles Leclerc’s Austin performance earns strong praise
During a discussion on the Terruzzi Racconta podcast, Giorgio Terruzzi, Stefano Nicoli and Pino Allievi examined the main developments from the United States Grand Prix, paying particular attention to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc.
Terruzzi opened the discussion by suggesting that the first encouraging indications for Ferrari’s future had finally emerged under team principal Fred Vasseur. Allievi developed that assessment, arguing that the Scuderia had delivered a convincing performance and that its lead driver had been particularly impressive.
For Allievi, second place represented something close to half a victory because of the quality of Charles Leclerc’s driving. The Italian commentator believed the Monegasque had rediscovered the aggressive approach that had characterised his strongest performances, attacking relentlessly rather than simply protecting his position.
He also attached significance to the driver’s assessment after the Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had explained that, over the previous three races, he had begun to understand how to make his driving style work more effectively with the SF-26.
According to Allievi, the Austin performance helped dispel doubts about whether the Ferrari driver had become too comfortable or was struggling to adapt to the car. He considered the race an important demonstration of Leclerc’s ability to push and extract performance from the machinery available.
That improved understanding has become an encouraging development for the team, with Ferrari’s stronger Austin race pace and SF-26 upgrade performance providing further reasons for optimism.
Pino Allievi believes Ferrari should be fighting for the F1 title
Despite his enthusiasm for Charles Leclerc’s performance, Pino Allievi was considerably less positive about Ferrari’s season as a whole. He argued that a team with the Scuderia’s ambitions should not measure success by occasional podium finishes or improvements relative to its own disappointing results.
In his assessment, Ferrari had performed below expectations throughout 2026 because it had failed to produce a car capable of winning consistently. Allievi maintained that the Italian team should be competing for the championship rather than accepting second place as a satisfactory objective.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the United States Grand Prix represented a clear improvement over Ferrari’s usual level during the season. Compared with several previous races, the SF-26 was significantly more competitive, allowing Charles Leclerc to deliver one of the team’s more encouraging results.
This created an important distinction in Allievi’s verdict. Austin deserved recognition as a strong individual weekend, but the performance did not erase the broader disappointment surrounding Ferrari’s championship campaign.
Ferrari’s SF-26 project praised despite costly execution problems
The most significant part of Pino Allievi’s assessment concerned the underlying quality of Ferrari’s technical project. He argued that Austin, as a conventional permanent circuit rather than a street track, had allowed the team’s true potential to become more apparent.
According to the Italian commentator, the drivers had also delivered the performances required to demonstrate what the car could achieve. Their contribution reinforced his belief that the SF-26 possessed considerably greater potential than Ferrari’s results throughout the championship had suggested.
Allievi reserved particular praise for the technical project associated with Loïc Serra, describing it as an exceptionally strong foundation. However, he was equally critical of how the package had been managed at the circuit, believing that mistakes in execution had prevented Ferrari from making the most of its capabilities.
His conclusion was that Ferrari had achieved significantly less success than could reasonably have been expected from the quality of the project. The criticism was therefore directed not at the underlying concept of the car, but at the team’s ability to translate that potential into results.
The contrast between technical promise and competitive execution has been an important theme of the SF-26’s development, with Ferrari’s Austin upgrade progress and the challenges awaiting it in Mexico illustrating the continuing demands placed on the Maranello team.
Can Ferrari turn its Austin progress into race victories?
Charles Leclerc’s Austin podium has consequently produced a mixed verdict. On one hand, the Monegasque’s attacking performance, improved understanding of the SF-26 and the car’s competitiveness offered encouraging indications for Ferrari’s future.
On the other, Pino Allievi’s assessment highlighted the standards against which the Scuderia continues to be judged. A second-place finish can represent a significant improvement during a difficult season without becoming the ultimate measure of success for a team expected to challenge for Formula 1 titles.
The central question following Austin is therefore whether Ferrari can consistently reproduce the performance it demonstrated at the Circuit of the Americas. For Allievi, the strength of the technical project makes the team’s limited success particularly frustrating, while Charles Leclerc’s renewed competitiveness offers evidence of what may still be possible when the car and driver perform together.
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