Hinchcliffe says Leclerc and Hamilton have not shown Verstappen’s qualifying edge in 2026

Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe says Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have not shown in 2026 the qualifying ability he saw from Max Verstappen in earlier years. On the F1 Nation podcast, Hinchcliffe recalled occasions in years other than 2023 when Verstappen extracted the maximum in Q3 from a car that was good but not the weekend’s best. He linked that ability to Verstappen’s multiple world titles. For 2026, Hinchcliffe said, Kimi Antonelli had shown the same quality while the Ferrari pair had not.

Ferrari had long been viewed as the favourite for victory in Austin. Leclerc was fastest in the first two practice sessions and Hamilton topped the third, but both were beaten in Q3 by Antonelli, Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. The Ferraris still had good race pace and, helped by strategy, finished second and fourth. Hinchcliffe said they should have qualified better, although he was unsure whether they could have beaten Antonelli in qualifying.

Hinchcliffe also praised Leclerc’s recovery in the race, saying he did not think the Ferrari driver could have extracted more because Mercedes and Antonelli were untouchable. Asked whether Leclerc could have won if he had started on the front row instead of Verstappen, Hinchcliffe said no, adding that he did not think it would have changed anything.