Ferrari's race pace should provide a chance of winning the US GP

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari remains in the race for Formula 1 victory at the United States Grand Prix despite falling behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in qualifying.

Leclerc took fourth place on the grid, just 0.09 seconds behind teammate Carlos Sainz, as the Spaniard finished third in Sunday's race in Austin.

The Monegasque man did not believe that the early end of Q3 – caused by George Russell's accident at Turn 19 – would have made too much of a difference to his position, as he felt that third place was the maximum achievable result, and referred to a “restriction” as Ferrari’s SF-24 was in the opening sector.

He said this made it difficult to get close to Norris and Verstappen in qualifying, but explained that it was much less of a problem in race trim. Furthermore, Leclerc believed victory was still possible for Ferrari if it could repeat its pace in the sprint race – where Sainz finished second ahead of Norris on the final lap.

“None of us were able to keep up with the top two. They were too fast, but we as a team expected that,” explained Leclerc.

“In the first part of qualifying yesterday and today we knew that we had a limitation in our car at the moment. And none of the setup options we considered would solve this problem.”

“But we have this problem much less in the race. That’s why I’m a little more optimistic about the race.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“If we see the same race pace as on Saturday morning, the race win is definitely possible. I think McLaren and Red Bull will most likely make a step forward in terms of car set-up and we will have to see how much of that progress relates to lap times.”

Leclerc explained that the tire degradation experienced by Ferrari was “pretty balanced” and that he had learned from his over-conservatism in his sprint race battle with Sainz that he could get more out of the tires.

“As a driver you can play with whether you want a front or rear demotion,” he explained.

“It depends a bit on how you drive and we’ll see tomorrow how everyone handles the tires.”

“Of course it also depends on our strategy of pushing earlier and how many laps we have to do in the first stint. I learned from (the sprint), which was most likely not the ideal scenario for me (being overtaken). Sainz), but we will try to make it optimal (in the race).”

On Ferrari's limitations, he added: “(In the first sector) it's more the ground contacts and the actual bumps on the track that compensate us a lot and we have so much, we touch each other quite often, that's what does it for us very difficult.” . But this time it’s not the jumping.”