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AUSTIN, Texas — The conversations around Formula One continue to focus on the battle between Red Bull and McLaren. But another team has steadily sneaked into the picture as a threat for the future: Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc won his third race of the season, dominating the United States Grand Prix on Sunday after taking the lead at Turn 1 while Lando Norris and Max Verstappen battled, the Dutchman diving up the inside of the McLaren. From there, the Monégasque never was challenged. Carlos Sainz finished 8.5 seconds behind him in second place, and Verstappen was a whopping 19.4 seconds from Leclerc in third after Norris received a five-second time penalty for an incident with Verstappen and was knocked from the podium.
It was a quiet day for Ferrari compared with other constructors. Circuit of The Americas is the first “normal” track F1 has been at since Spa and Zandvoort (the previous two circuits in Singapore and Azerbaijan were temporary street courses). Saturday, Sainz said it was “uber-clear” that Ferrari was “two-to-four tenths off from a McLaren or a Mercedes.” This type of circuit allows Ferrari to fully understand the upgrades it has brought since the Italian GP, as COTA is more of a traditional track compared with the Azerbaijan and Singapore street circuits.
Five grands prix and two sprint races remain, and Ferrari sits 48 points behind first-place McLaren and eight points behind Red Bull. Time is against the Prancing Horse, but Leclerc said, “We are still targeting the title.”
The U.S. Grand Prix is the latest example of how Ferrari’s late progression has made it a sleeper team in F1’s title race.
‘A good kind of lonely’
There were early signs in the weekend that Ferrari had the pace to be a threat. Even Norris said after Saturday’s qualifying, “Ferrari were very quick in the (sprint) race today with the degradation.”
Leclerc said he knew Norris and Verstappen “would be very aggressive towards each other” considering the championship battle. When he noticed the two were going toward the inside of Turn 1, Leclerc decided to prepare for the corner’s exit, “which was obviously a winning bet.” Verstappen emerged second from Turn 1, but Sainz noticed the Dutchman “couldn’t keep up with Charles.”
“I knew that if I couldn’t pass Max in the first three laps, it was going to be game over,” Sainz said, “because then Charles and I were always very close in pace.”
Leclerc’s race was a breeze as he built up enough of a gap where he could mirror others rather than come up with different strategies. Once he was in first, he said, “I knew that it was all about trying to use the pace of the car that we had yesterday and trying to take care of those tires, and the car felt great. So from that moment onwards, it was a bit of a lonely race, but it’s a good kind of lonely.”
However, Sainz struggled early on, reporting smelling fuel in the car and having little power at the exit of corners. The Spaniard was trying to put pressure on Verstappen, but the issue made him lose time, which dropped him outside of DRS range. Ferrari found the right setting, and when Sainz pitted for the hard tire and executed the undercut, he “felt really comfortable, very confident, and we were very quick again.”
It’s hard to imagine Ferrari would have four wins to its name in a single season after how recent seasons unfolded. The Maranello, Italy-based team overhauled its car during the offseason after an inconsistent 2023, and at the beginning of the year, there was reason for optimism.
Leclerc and Sainz showed competitive pace as they fought for podiums and wins, with Sainz emerging victorious in Australia and Leclerc in Monaco. But as the year progressed, the rate of improvement slowed compared with the rest of the grid, the likes of McLaren and Mercedes edging past as the season got to summer break.
The team needed to find pace.
Overcoming the tricky midseason slump
Fresh off of summer break, Zandvoort ended with a surprise as Leclerc secured a podium finish despite struggling with Sainz on Friday and Saturday. Leclerc was one second off of Norris’ pole position time that weekend. Then in Monza, Ferrari brought numerous upgrades, and Leclerc won the race. But the team needed to wait to see whether this was a proper step forward.
It kept building on the concept. More upgrades came in Singapore, before F1 entered a three-week break. And it worked, such as how bouncing doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore.
“The pace of the car today and this weekend was really good overall and mostly thanks to the engineers,” Leclerc said Sunday. “They’ve been working like crazy over the last few months to bring the upgrades we had in Singapore and in the last few races, and it seems to be paying off.”
Strategy has also been a weak point for Ferrari over the last several years, but there has been progress, as seen by the team’s performance. Sainz said, “Like I’ve said many times, having a good car on race day always helps to make the strategy work. And I feel like this year, compared to last year, we have a very strong car on race day.
“The best example is today.”
He pointed to tire degradation — something Ferrari has struggled with in the past but that the Spaniard now feels is a strength. The team has been able to shift from defending to attacking more, he added, compared with last year. He highlighted Singapore as an example. Sainz pitted on Lap 13 out of 62 and made it to the finish.
Any other season when tire degradation is an issue, that would not have been possible, Sainz said.
“Making bold strategy moves on race day wouldn’t be as easy, and you would look more crazy by doing them,” Sainz said. “And this year, having a car that degrades less the tires and makes you more competitive on race day also allows you more flexibility and better opportunities to play with the strategy.”
The parts are starting to click into place in Maranello, and it leads one to wonder what is possible for Ferrari, even this late in the season. Leclerc reminded everyone how Austin was going to be the true test of Ferrari’s upgrades from the last few races, and he said, “It seems to be working all good. So that is positive for the future.”
That doesn’t mean to expect every Sunday to look like the U.S. Grand Prix, he added. But, “it means that we are working in the right direction, and that can only be positive.” Sainz reckons Mexico City and Las Vegas will be strong tracks for Ferrari, basing his gut feeling on how last year unfolded. Qatar, which is where the final sprint race of the year will take place, may be a “bogey track” for the team, and Abu Dhabi is a question mark.
The Ferrari one-two victory in Austin throws an unexpected wrinkle in the constructors championship. It’s no longer a crystal-clear, two-team fight. Norris felt there was no chance of beating Ferrari on Sunday, and Oscar Piastri felt the Prancing Horse has “kind of gone a little bit under the radar in the last few races.”
“Monza, they were obviously very quick,” Piastri continued. “Baku was very, very tough to hold them back, and Singapore, I think without their poor qualifying, they would have been very, very competitive, and this weekend is the same. This is kind of not a completely unexpected result for them, but we obviously need to try and make sure we turn that around next time.”
(Top photo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)
