Ferrari demonstrated strong performance during the 19th round of the 2025 Formula 1 season in the United States, yet despite showing promising pace, the Scuderia remained some distance behind the dominant Red Bull team. This was the clear conclusion following the action-packed weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, which included both the Sprint Race and the main Grand Prix. The setup changes implemented by the team after the Sprint Race proved to be well-judged, allowing the Maranello-based SF-25 to regain significant speed through the twisty, technical sections of the track, often referred to as the snake. At the same time, this improved performance did not come at the expense of top-end velocity along the long straights, demonstrating the versatility of Ferrari’s aerodynamic and mechanical package. The configuration of the SF-25 also enabled excellent tire management over long runs, which is crucial in a high-degradation circuit such as this. However, despite these improvements, the gap to the leading Red Bull car driven by Max Verstappen remained substantial, highlighting the ongoing performance deficit relative to the championship frontrunners.
VSC cools Charles Leclerc’s tires
During the first stint of the Grand Prix, Ferrari showed encouraging pace. Up until the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car, Charles Leclerc, running on Soft compound tires, successfully held off Lando Norris, making effective use of the initial tire advantage at the start of the race. The Monegasque’s race pace was approximately three-tenths of a second slower than the pace of Max Verstappen, who was utilizing a tire compound better suited to the early phase of the race, providing him with a slight advantage in terms of grip and longevity. Charles Leclerc demonstrated skillful management of the natural performance drop of his Soft tires between laps three and five, establishing a solid margin over the chasing drivers.
Nevertheless, the two laps under the Virtual Safety Car disrupted the thermal cycle of the red-marked Pirelli tires, which had a negative impact on the performance of the Ferrari SF-25 during the following phase. After lap ten, Charles Leclerc experienced noticeable thermal degradation, reducing his tire performance and making his car more difficult to drive at the limit. Lewis Hamilton, in the other Ferrari, also enjoyed a positive start to the race. His performance benefited in part from the data collected during the Sprint Race, which allowed him to better understand tire behavior and optimize his race pace. The number 44 Ferrari demonstrated superior tire management compared to Oscar Piastri’s McLaren MCL39, particularly in terms of balancing tire temperatures and maintaining consistent lap times over longer stints.
As the race progressed, Lewis Hamilton began reporting a noticeable lack of front-end grip as he approached his scheduled pit stop. The data from his car indicated a clear shortage of rotational performance generated by the front axle, an issue that prevented him from closing the gap to Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who were ahead on track. The degradation experienced by Lewis Hamilton, who was lapping a few tenths slower than Max Verstappen during this phase, became increasingly evident after lap 15, further complicating his ability to challenge the leaders and maintain competitive lap times.
McLaren’s main challenge during the first stint stemmed from front tire graining. Among the two McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri suffered more noticeably from this phenomenon, which was primarily caused by insufficient data from long-run simulations and the lack of real-time track experience in the Sprint Race. Having not participated in the Sprint Race, the “temperature setup” for the Australian driver was not optimally calibrated, making it more difficult to manage the tires effectively. Andrea Stella, Ferrari’s former race engineer and currently the team principal of McLaren, also pointed out that track conditions, including variable wind patterns, did not assist Oscar Piastri in achieving the ideal balance for his car, resulting in a more challenging first stint.
At the front of the race, Max Verstappen maintained an almost perfectly consistent pace, managing his tires in clean air with remarkable efficiency. The degradation of the Red Bull car was minimal, allowing the reigning world champion to maintain a strong rhythm throughout the initial stint. Only in the latter stages of this run did Max Verstappen experience minor sliding on the right-hand side of the car, slightly impacting his lap times. Data analysis shows a noticeable increase in his lap times after lap 20, which corresponds to this slight loss of traction, yet overall, his stint remained extremely strong and largely uninterrupted by tire issues.
George Russell, driving the Mercedes W16, was approximately eight-tenths of a second slower than Max Verstappen during the early laps. His performance in the first part of the race was significantly affected by the presence of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren MCL39 directly ahead, which without question slowed his progress and prevented him from fully exploiting the car’s potential pace. While Russell could have pushed harder to attempt an overtake, he simply lacked the necessary speed differential to pass Piastri’s car safely, highlighting the challenges Mercedes faced in traffic during this phase of the race.
Lewis Hamilton pays the price of the first stint, Red Bull remains unchallenged
During the second half of the United States Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was the first of the leading drivers to make his scheduled pit stop. The Soft tires used in the first stint, marked with the red sidewall by Pirelli, had not allowed the Monegasque to extend his run to the same extent as his rivals, necessitating an earlier tire change to maintain competitive lap times. By the conclusion of the race, Charles Leclerc’s pace was approximately half a second slower than Max Verstappen, with marked tire wear only becoming significant after lap 26, when running on Medium compound tires.
Charles Leclerc skillfully defended against the attacks of Lando Norris, who was running on red-marked Soft tires, effectively forcing the Brit to push his tires beyond the optimal temperature window. The Briton had to allow his tires to cool sufficiently to return to the ideal operating range, as the excessive heat had begun to compromise performance. Once Lando Norris managed to stabilize his tires and match Verstappen’s pace, he gradually recovered ground, overtook Charles Leclerc, and went on to set the fastest lap of the race, demonstrating the effectiveness of his tire management and race strategy.
Lewis Hamilton’s pace throughout the second stint was broadly comparable to that of the cars ahead of him, including Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. However, the gap accumulated during his first stint prevented him from mounting a credible challenge for fourth place. On the final lap of the race, Lewis Hamilton experienced an unusual loss of performance: he was five seconds slower than the previous lap after making a mistake at Turn 1, running onto the marbles and reporting over the radio a total lack of front-end grip. Fortunately, the buffer he had built over Oscar Piastri remained sufficient to protect his position, avoiding any risk of losing another place in the final laps.
Meanwhile, the battle for fifth position between Oscar Piastri and George Russell continued during the second half of the United States Grand Prix. Both drivers demonstrated similar pace on Soft tires, but the Australian driver displayed superior tire management when his car was running lighter due to fuel burn-off. By carefully preserving his tires and choosing optimal moments to push, Piastri consistently maintained a gap of more than three seconds over the Englishman, without ever coming under sustained or decisive attack from the Mercedes driver. This highlighted not only the importance of tire management at the Circuit of the Americas but also the role of race experience and strategic decision-making in determining finishing positions outside the podium positions.
Overall, the 2025 United States Grand Prix underlined Ferrari’s strong potential but also the persistent challenge they face in closing the gap to the Red Bull team. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton demonstrated competitive pace, effective tire management, and strategic awareness, yet Max Verstappen’s flawless execution and the Red Bull car’s negligible tire degradation left the Austrian side comfortably in control.
And you? What do you think about the performance of the SF-25 at the Circuit of the Americas? Let us know with a comment at the end of the article or on our social media channels: Facebook Group / Facebook Page / Instagram / X (former Twitter) and TikTok.
Leave a Reply