Charles Leclerc Confident of Incoming Victory After a Strong 2nd Place Result in COTA

Having finished P2 in back-to-back races, Charles Leclerc believes he has unlocked something new in his driving with regard to the Ferrari challenger. The Monegasque driver is thus running high on confidence and feels that a race win might be on the cards for him in the final five races of 2026.

Quoted by Motorsport.com while speaking during the post-race press conference, Leclerc claimed that the feeling with the car was getting much better and that he felt like he had unlocked something with the SF-26, in terms of driving.

“The feeling with the car is getting better and better,” Leclerc noted. “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 the set-up with my driving.”

Given the combination, the No. 16 driver feels he has taken a major positive step and is starting to feel a lot more comfortable with the car. Running high on confidence, Leclerc is also positive that “we’ll have a shot at winning a race before the end of the season.”

Notably, Leclerc started the United States GP in P4, trailing both Red Bull cars and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli. But when the checkered flag waved, the 29-year-old was sitting firmly in P2, albeit a mammoth 13 seconds behind the race winner.

A Change of Perspective for Charles Leclerc

Having already won a race this season at Silverstone, Leclerc is now confident that he can possibly take his overall win tally to 10, thanks to the upgraded SF-26. However, less than 24 hours ago, the Monegasque was not as happy a driver, given his expletive-filled rant as he ripped into the car.

In an untelevised radio rant during qualifying, Leclerc was far from happy with the car, particularly calling out its tire performance. “F**k too much front wing!” raged the No. 16 driver, as quoted by Crash.net. “The tyres, for f**k sake, such a tiny window! It’s s**t. It’s absolutely awful. Awful. It’s unbelievable. Crazy.”

Speaking to the F1 media afterward, he stated that even the slightest change in track temperature made preparation much harder for his team. With the clouds coming, the track lost a degree or two in temperature, and for Ferrari, it was a difference of day and night.

For Leclerc, starting the race from P4 was “a shame” as he felt confident that his car had enough pace to be fighting at the front.

Where Did Ferrari’s Pace Go in Qualifying?

At least 50% of the entire race weekend was dominated by Ferrari in Austin, with the Scuderia topping all three practice sessions in the build-up. Friday saw Leclerc achieve a clean sweep over his rivals, while Saturday morning belonged to Lewis Hamilton.

As such, heading into the Qualifying session in Austin, Ferrari were the favorites to take pole, but it wasn’t meant to be. For Leclerc, the reason behind the result was the team itself. While most others did not change anything from Q2 to Q3, the tires on the SF-26 did not have a great time adapting to the cooling track amid cloud cover.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, Hamilton felt that the result was down to a clear power deficit to Red Bull and Mercedes. Appreciating the team for a good job overnight, the British driver claimed that the car felt great until Q2.

However, as Q3 began, the other teams really dialed up their power, and with Ferrari clearly not as fast on the straights, there was no way for them to keep hopes up for a pole position.

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