Ferrari’s pace suddenly dropped at the United States Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton struggled to maximise their package.

Leclerc did finish P2, with Hamilton P4, marking a strong result for the Maranello outfit. But their earlier pace in practice and qualifying suggested that they could have achieved more.

Ferrari looked like the team to beat at COTA on Friday. This pace continued in Q1 and Q2, but in Q3, when it really mattered, Leclerc and Hamilton dropped off and could not keep up with Mercedes and Red Bull.

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Charles Leclerc demanded to know Kimi Antonelli’s pace – it was ‘1.3 seconds’ faster than Ferrari thought they could go

In the race, the SF-26 again did not have the pace to catch Ferrari’s rivals. The deficit was alarming, so much so that Ferrari were only quicker than Aston Martin in a straight line.

Many could point towards the engine, which has been a huge limitation for the team in 2026. It has even been said that Ferrari’s power unit is worse than Audi’s, despite this season being the first year of the latter’s engine in F1.

But COTA exposed a far bigger problem, as Leclerc’s frustration over the radio highlighted just how far behind the team are.

On lap 40, race engineer Bryan Bozzi informed his driver of the pace Max Verstappen was doing ahead: “Target lap time is 38.9 to reach Verstappen with six laps to go. There’s also…

Leclerc abruptly cut him off and said: “I don’t care! Give me Antonelli. What lap time [is he] doing?” He had just pitted for hard tyres, which were 15 laps younger than the Mercedes driver’s tyres.

Bozzi replied: “So to catch Antonelli is a 37.9 but it’s at least 1.3 seconds faster than what we think we can do.”

The fact that Leclerc was already projected to be 1.3 seconds off the pace of the Mercedes, despite Antonelli having 15-lap-old tyres, shows just how far behind Ferrari are as a team.

Of course, other factors have to be considered, such as traffic and track conditions, but this deficit to their rivals shows how much work Ferrari have to do to get back in a winning position.

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On lap 44, Bozzi kept Leclerc updated on the pace: “Verstappen, 39.6, Antonelli, 39.8,” he said, before Leclerc asked: “Is this pace enough to catch Antonelli?”

Bozzi then gave another bleak assessment: “So, if you can keep this lap time, it could be, but we expect we’re going to lose time to Verstappen and Norris.”

Leclerc did pass Verstappen for P2 in a brilliant battle in the closing laps. It was a good result for Ferrari, but they had no chance of catching Mercedes out in front.