Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur described the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin as a positive outing for the team on 26 October, even as the Scuderia fell short of a double podium finish. Charles Leclerc crossed the line in P2, while Lewis Hamilton ended up P4, with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli taking the race win and Red Bull's Max Verstappen slotting in at P3.

Vasseur's Take on the Result

Vasseur acknowledged that a competitive Leclerc had set his sights considerably higher. 'I don't know if you had all the radio, but very early in the race, Charles was targeting P1,' Vasseur said. 'And when you do P2, and you target P1, you are not happy. But this I like as a feeling.' The team principal was candid that ambition-driven frustration is, in his view, a productive sign within the squad.

He framed the weekend positively in the broader championship picture. 'Honestly, at the end of the weekend, I think it's a good week, a good result for us for the third or fourth race in a row; we are the team scoring the biggest amount of points,' Vasseur added. 'I think we are on the right way, but for sure, when you have this feeling that you are in a good shape on the weekend and you do P2, you can have also a bit of frustration. But the frustration sometimes is good.'

Strategy Call Under the Spotlight

Ferrari opted for a two-stop strategy, with both Leclerc and Hamilton starting on the soft compound tyres from grid positions P4 and P5 respectively. Vasseur defended the call as the right one given where the cars lined up. 'Today I think that it was between one and two stops. We had to be aggressive starting from P4, P5. It was a good call from us,' he said.

He also noted that a late Virtual Safety Car period may have cost Hamilton ground on Verstappen. 'Without perhaps the Virtual Safety Car at the end, Lewis was perhaps able to come back on Max, I don't know. Probably yes,' Vasseur said. The team's willingness to go aggressive from mid-grid reflects a broader tactical evolution Ferrari have pursued across recent rounds.

Qualifying and the Narrow Performance Window

Ferrari's weekend was not without its Saturday complications. Leclerc topped the Friday timing sheets, and Hamilton was fastest in FP3, yet both drivers qualified P4 and P5. Vasseur pointed out, however, that this was a broadly shared phenomenon — both McLarens, George Russell, and both Red Bulls also failed to improve their lap times in the final qualifying segment.

'I think what is true is that with the cars or the tyres, the window is very narrow, and as soon as you are a bit out, quickly you lose two or three tenths,' he explained. 'And today in F1 the top eight, two or three tenths can be a sixth position. It means that you can move from the super result to nowhere for a gust of wind, or you slide a little bit too much in the out lap.' Vasseur cited the team's earlier experience in Madrid as another instance where minor out-lap deviations carried an outsized penalty.

SF-26 Package Showing Consistent Pace

Vasseur was notably upbeat about the underlying performance of the SF-26. 'Pace was good,' he said. 'For sure the pace from the beginning when we put the car on track on Friday morning, to the last lap of the race, the pace was there.' He was careful, however, to contextualise that raw package performance alone does not determine weekend outcomes — setup execution, tyre management, and situational decision-making each carry equal weight.

'What we have to pay attention is that competitiveness is not just about the package; it's also the fact that sometimes set-up, tyre management, you are in the right spot, and you are doing a good weekend. And sometimes not,' he added. The remarks suggest Ferrari are cautiously optimistic but wary of over-reading any single strong weekend as a definitive shift in the competitive order. The team will now look to carry their points-scoring momentum into the next round of the season.