Charles Leclerc demands Ferrari investigation after 'paying the price' in Austin

Charles Leclerc has told Ferrari it must investigate its sensitivity to tyre temperatures after "paying the price" in United States Grand Prix qualifying.

Throughout Austin qualifying, Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton set the pace, with Hamilton even topping his first FP3 session since the 2024 Italian GP. 

However, neither driver could translate this strong pace when it mattered at the end of Q3, with Leclerc fourth quickest, 0.232s slower than pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli, with Hamilton fifth, 0.044s behind the Monegasque.

To compound Ferrari's misery, both Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will start ahead in second and third, as Leclerc offered fascinating insight into the small window Ferrari was trying to work in with track temperatures, which cooled as Q3 progressed.

"It is quite frustrating, but there are reasons for it, and we need to work harder and try to understand the tyres even better than we are doing, because it is easier for the others to extract lap time in Q3," Leclerc observed to media, including RacingNews365.

"As soon as we are a tiny bit out of the window, we pay the price a lot, and this is something we need to look into. 

"[It is even more frustrating] when I look at my Q2 lap, which was 0.080s faster than Antonelli, so I was expecting to do another step in Q3, which unfortunately never came. 

"The tyre window is the same for everybody, but our car, for some reason, it is very difficult to put heat in the tyres.

"It is a good thing for us on Sunday, but in qualifying, it makes it very tricky when the track temperatures go down. 

"In Q3, we were not in the right place, and I realised that it was one or two degrees cooler in Q3, and this was a huge difference.

"I really struggled on the out-lap, and was sliding quite a lot on the out-lap, and that made it very difficult after that."

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Leclerc vs Hamilton

Turning to the expected race battle with team-mate Hamilton, Leclerc spoke of knowing not to "cross the line."

"We know where the line is not to cross, and we've had some occasions throughout the year when I've crossed it or Lewis has crossed it," he said.

"We don't want to see that, and on a track like this, I don't think there is anything Singapore-like where you can slow down another team.

"But staying away from each other is always a good thing, no matter what."