Ferrari’s Austin qualifying fade: Leclerc cites tyres, Hamilton points to power

Ferrari’s strong practice pace did not translate into a fight for pole in Austin: Charles Leclerc qualified fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth as Kimi Antonelli claimed pole for Mercedes. Leclerc had topped both Friday sessions, and Hamilton led FP3 after Leclerc’s best lap was deleted, but Ferrari could not find enough progression in Q3.

Leclerc linked Ferrari’s Q3 fade partly to the falling track temperature, while also acknowledging that rivals had more speed on the straights. He said Q3 was one or two degrees cooler and that he was already sliding on the out-lap, making it difficult to get the tyres into the right window. He added that Ferrari’s difficulty putting heat into its tyres can help on Sundays but makes qualifying harder when the track cools.

Both drivers saw a straight-line deficit, but Hamilton attributed it to Ferrari’s power unit and the cut-off in electrical power. He said his own out-lap had prepared the tyres well and his final lap felt solid; he had not looked at the data. Comparing Ferrari with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, Hamilton said it kept pulling when Ferrari cut power on the run to Turn 1, with a similar pattern into Turn 11.

Based on practice pace, Hamilton estimated Ferrari’s deficit to the Red Bull-Ford power unit at around three to four tenths on the straights. He said Ferrari could not make up that gap through cornering speed alone.

That distinction matters for Sunday: if the tyre issue is the main problem, Ferrari may be able to manage temperatures over race distance; the power loss Hamilton described would be harder to offset on Austin’s long back straight.