Vasseur admits Ferrari frustration as Leclerc's Austin pace 'was there' to fight for victory
Ferrari leave Austin with points — but not the win they craved
Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has admitted to a sense of "frustration" after the Scuderia's 2026 United States Grand Prix weekend in Austin, insisting the team's underlying pace was strong enough to have challenged for victory.
Charles Leclerc took second place at the Circuit of the Americas, crossing the line behind Kimi Antonelli after passing Max Verstappen during a two-stop race, while Lewis Hamilton recovered to fourth. Yet both drivers had topped sessions earlier in the weekend — Leclerc fastest on Friday, Hamilton quickest in FP3 — only for qualifying to leave them fourth and fifth on a tightly packed grid.
"We are on the right way, but for sure, when you have this feeling that you are in a good shape on the weekend and you do P2, you can have also a bit of frustration," Vasseur said. "But the frustration sometimes is good."
'Charles was targeting P1'
Vasseur revealed that Leclerc had been gunning for the win from the opening laps. "I don't know if you had all the radio, but very early in the race, Charles was targeting P1," Vasseur said. "And when you do P2 and you target P1, you are not happy. But this I like as a feeling."
The Frenchman pointed to the team's recent form, noting Ferrari had scored the most points of any team across the preceding races. "Honestly, at the end of the weekend, I think it's a good week, a good result for us for the third or fourth race in a row, we are the team scoring the biggest amount of points."
Strategy call defended
On race day, Ferrari committed to soft tyres at the start and a two-stop strategy, and Vasseur was confident it was the right call. "Today I think that it was between one and two stops. We had to be aggressive starting from P4, P5. It was a good call from us," he said, adding that without a late Virtual Safety Car, Hamilton might have closed on Verstappen. "Overall, I think it's a good weekend in terms of pace, execution. Everything went well – except the last lap in Q3."
The narrow window of 2026
The bigger issue, Vasseur argued, is the razor-thin operating window of the current cars and tyres. "The window is very narrow, and as soon as you are a bit out, quickly you lose two or three tenths. And today in F1 [in] the top eight, two or three tenths can be a sixth position," he explained, noting that Leclerc's fastest lap came in Q2 rather than Q3. "If you don't put everything together, you can move from P2 to P6."
Vasseur insisted the SF-26 package itself is competitive. "Pace was good. For sure the pace from the beginning when we put the car on track on Friday morning, to the last lap of the race, the pace was there." He stressed that competitiveness is not just about the package but also set-up, tyre management and being in "the right spot."
Pressure off the boil — for now
The frustration comes against a backdrop of scrutiny Vasseur has faced in recent weeks. On October 1, 2026, Hamilton urged the Frenchman's critics to "point fingers somewhere else" as Ferrari closed ranks around their team principal, with the seven-time world champion launching an impassioned defence and pointing to the team's second place in the Constructors' Championship despite a power deficit.
A day later, on October 2, Vasseur acknowledged that the external "noise" was a "big issue," having joined Ferrari from Sauber in 2023 and overseen a return to regular race-winning form in 2026 after a poor 2025. He revealed a five-race run without a podium had dented the team's championship challenge to Mercedes, but called for a "friendlier media," saying some criticism had "crossed a line."
With the SF-26's pace now clearly back, Vasseur's focus is on converting Fridays into Sundays — and turning near-misses like Austin into the wins he believes are within reach.