Three practice fastest times, no pole: Ferrari puzzled over tyres and engine
Ferrari led all three practice sessions in Austin but only managed fourth and fifth in qualifying. Leclerc blamed cold tyres, while Hamilton pointed to the engine.
Photo: Martin Lee from London, UK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
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Ferrari missed out on pole once again at the United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had topped both Friday sessions and Q2, and Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Saturday's final practice. In Q3, however, they were only fourth and fifth – Leclerc 0.232 seconds off pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton 0.044 seconds behind his team-mate. According to Formel1.de, they were 0.053 seconds short of the front row.
Leclerc mainly blamed the tyres, saying Ferrari's car found it very hard to get heat into them and that Q3 was "maybe one or two degrees cooler", Formel1.de reported. "Just really struggled in the out lap," he told Formula1.com. Hamilton partly disagreed, saying the engine was the only area where Ferrari was losing out and estimating the deficit to Red Bull on the straights at three to four tenths.
Team principal Frédéric Vasseur turned his attention to Sunday's race. "Now we will focus on the race, because I think tomorrow could be a different story," he said, according to GrandPrix.com. Leclerc also expects strong race pace and is counting on the start. Hamilton admitted overtaking in Austin is difficult but sees an opportunity in strategy.