Leclerc explains Ferrari’s sudden drop-off in pace after missing out on Sprint Qualifying pole in Austin

Charles Leclerc was disappointed to miss out on pole position in Sprint Qualifying at the United States Grand Prix given Ferrari’s promising form prior to SQ3, with the Monegasque putting the drop-off in pace down to the car not gelling with the soft tyre.

After the Scuderia topped Friday’s sole practice hour with a one-two result, their performance continued to look positive entering into Sprint Qualifying later in the day, Leclerc setting the pace in SQ1 while team mate Carlos Sainz was quickest in SQ2.

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However, when SQ3 arrived and the mandatory soft tyres were bolted on, the squad’s run at the top came to an end, with Leclerc ending the session in third ahead of Sainz in fifth.

Asked after the session if he was frustrated to miss out on pole – given that he previously looked to be in the mix – Leclerc explained: “Yeah, but for some reason [on] the soft [tyre] Mercedes really gained something that we didn’t quite have in our car.

“On the medium we were looking good, on the soft for some reason we didn’t have the pace to challenge for P1. The lap was a little bit scrappy but it’s not like I did anything weird, it just… yeah, the feeling wasn’t great.

“But it happens, and obviously with very limited running it happens even more so. We still have a quali tomorrow to recover, and P3 is not that bad for the Sprint Qualifying. Now we’ll focus on tomorrow and try to recover some positions.”

In terms of whether he can take the fight to pole-sitter Max Verstappen and second-placed George Russell in Saturday’s Sprint, Leclerc admitted that the picture is currently unclear.

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from Austin Sprint Qualifying as Verstappen claims pole while Piastri suffers shock early exit

“Max is also looking very quick for now,” the 27-year-old said. “We don’t quite have the idea of who is going to be fast in race pace, so for now [there are] quite a lot of question marks.

“I don’t have the answer to that question, but I hope that we can win the Sprint race at least – that would be a good sign for Sunday.”

Sainz echoed Leclerc’s comments about Ferrari’s struggles with the soft tyre, but the Spaniard insisted that he was not disappointed by the outcome of the team’s session.

“I think we maximised more or less what our car can do around here,” Sainz commented after Sprint Qualifying. “I had a really good lap in SQ2 with the medium, but then [on] the soft it seems like we still lack a little bit compared to especially the Mercs and Verstappen.

“They seem to be a tenth or two quicker over one lap, especially when you see the lap Lewis [Hamilton] was coming on and the scrappy lap George had and still managed to be two tenths ahead with a very good lap.

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“I think it’s more or less where we are this weekend, and then the race pace will be a completely different thing and we will see if we can move forward.”

When asked if he has a sense of what the Italian outfit’s race pace is at the moment, Sainz added: “No, I think the focus into tomorrow will be more focused on how we can perform a bit better on the soft tyre, because obviously being P1 on the medium [but] P5 on the soft definitely means that there is maybe something to find on the soft tyre come qualifying.

“For the race I think we’re in the right spot, and hopefully no-one knows what’s going to happen with the race pace.”