Charles Leclerc 'confident' of late-season step after US GP upgrades

Charles Leclerc’s hopes are high after a promising showing at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

The Monegasque driver was back on the rostrum as he finished in second place, a week after also securing a second place in the Singapore Grand Prix, which was his first back-to-back podiums since the British and Belgian Grands Prix.

Ferrari arrived at the United States Grand Prix with new upgrades, with further upgrades expected to arrive this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Across the weekend in Austin, it had appeared that Ferrari was the dominant force, with Leclerc topping Free Practice 1 and 2, before Lewis Hamilton topped Free Practice 3 on Saturday.

However, in qualifying, the Ferraris could only manage to secure fourth and fifth on the grid, before Leclerc’s performance in the Grand Prix saw him finish in second place.

After the performance at the United States Grand Prix and the latest upgrades, Leclerc is now hopeful that Ferrari has what it takes to return to winning ways for the first time since July at the British Grand Prix.

“Whether I can convert that into a win is a bit difficult to predict, because it’s such fine margins, and it also depends on what the upgrade plans of the others are in upcoming races,” Leclerc said.

“But the feeling with the car is getting better and better. These cars are very specific and unique, and I feel like, over the last two or three races, I’ve unlocked something again in terms of driving, and particularly set-up with my driving.

“Just both together, we’ve taken a step forward, and I just feel much more comfortable with the car.

“So I hope that this will result in a win soon. Whether it’s in Singapore or here in Austin, we were quite close, so I’m confident that we’ll have a shot to win a race before the end of the season.”

When questioned about the sudden lack of pace in qualifying, Leclerc admitted that Ferrari lost the chance to challenge Kimi Antonelli for victory on Saturday afternoon in Q3.

“I mean, if you look at FP1, FP2 and FP3, we were very strong,” he explained.

“If you look at qualifying, at the end of the day in Q3, it was extremely difficult to bring the tyres up to temperature, and we probably lost a shot at the victory there.”