Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur described the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin as 'a good week overall', even as the Italian outfit fell short of a double podium finish on 26 October. Charles Leclerc crossed the line in P2, while Lewis Hamilton finished P4, with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli taking victory and Red Bull's Max Verstappen claiming the final podium spot in third.

Vasseur's Take on the Result

Despite Leclerc's visible frustration at missing out on the win, Vasseur was upbeat about the team's trajectory. '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 boss added that the broader picture remained positive. '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. I think we are on the right track, 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,' he said.

Strategy Calls and Race Execution

Ferrari opted for a two-stop strategy, with both drivers starting on the soft compound tyres from P4 and P5 on the grid. Vasseur defended the call, noting that the team needed to be aggressive given their grid positions. '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.

Vasseur also suggested Hamilton could have potentially closed on Verstappen in the closing stages had a Virtual Safety Car not disrupted the strategy. 'Without perhaps the Virtual Safety Car at the end, Lewis was perhaps able to come back on Max, I don't know. Probably yes,' he added.

Qualifying and the Narrow Performance Window

Ferrari showed strong pace throughout the weekend — Leclerc topped Friday practice timing sheets, while Hamilton was fastest in FP3. However, both drivers ended up fourth and fifth in qualifying, failing to capitalise on the practice-session pace.

Vasseur contextualised the Saturday result by pointing to a broader anomaly: 'I think it was quite particular that the two McLarens didn't improve, Russell didn't improve, and the two Red Bulls didn't improve.' He noted that modern Formula 1 machinery operates within an extremely narrow performance window. '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,' he explained.

SF-26 Package Assessment

Vasseur offered a measured appraisal of the SF-26 car's overall competitiveness. 'Pace was good,' he said. '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 to note, however, that sustained competitiveness depends on more than the raw package. '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.

This is the third or fourth consecutive race in which Ferrari has led the constructor points tally for that round, suggesting a pattern of form that could have significant implications as the season heads towards its final rounds.