Charles Leclerc still needs to “understand” the changes Ferrari made overnight that helped him to a second-row start for Formula 1‘s United States Grand Prix.
Both Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton have struggled to extract the maximum from Ferrari’s recalcitrant SF-25 challenger throughout the 2025 season.
During Sprint Qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas, it appeared as though the Maranello-based squad was in for a tough showing as Leclerc qualified 10th.
That said, come qualifying on Saturday, the Monegasque stood upwards of three tenths on his best SQ3 lap time to seal a second-row start with third place.
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-120x86.webp)
Detailing the upturn, Leclerc revealed that his side of the garage did make some “specific” changes, but not enough to warrant the pace differential compared to Friday.
“Well, we’ve changed a few things, but it’s not like there’s been something that we’ve done a massive change with,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It was all about fine tuning. There’s something more specific that I’ve changed on my side, which I think went towards my driving style a little bit and maybe that helped.”
Leclerc explained that the wind may have also given the SF-25 an edge over its competitors.
However, taking the whole session into perspective, the Ferrari driver was still looking for answers to explain the drastic “swing of performance”.
“But a swing of performance like from yesterday to today is still to be understood, to be completely honest,” he continued.
“There was more wind. We know that with our car, this is normally a strong point, which probably helped us today.
“But again, it’s a big swing of performance, so we still need to understand.”
Leclerc hoping for a “surprise” despite “poor” Ferrari pace
Leclerc’s best Q3 lap was still a tenth slower than what he was able to muster last year in Austin, where he converted fourth on the grid into a sublime win.
Looking ahead to the race, he surmised that, like 12 months ago, the Italian marque’s competitiveness in the race should be better than its single lap pace.
“It’s just that the overall performance is very poor. So actually, it’s pretty similar to last year in terms of qualifying pace to race pace,” he explained.
“We seem to be pretty strong in race pace, but in qualifying pace, we don’t quite find the grip that the others have.
“Especially in the first sector, we tend to struggle a lot with the grip there and that costs a lot of lap time for the rest of the lap. So, yeah, pretty similar, just slower.”
Despite being downbeat about his chances at beating the cars ahead, Leclerc believes the win could be possible should he replicate his strong start from 2024.
“A good start like last year probably will help with the free air, but I don’t think that we quite have that pace in the car,” added Leclerc.
“But never say never. I think last year, we were very surprised once we got into free air to see the amount of pace there was in the car.
“I hope we can have the same surprise tomorrow, but for now, it seems unlikely.”
READ MORE — Lewis Hamilton reveals the Ferrari change that inspired improved qualifying at F1 US GP
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-360x180.webp)
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