Leclerc delivers difficult verdict on Ferrari’s constructors' ambitions

16:44, 22 Nov

byBen Winship

Charles Leclerc anticipates a difficult recovery drive in Las Vegas after a poor qualifying puts further pain to Ferrari’s constructors championship ambitions.

“What I want to do is to be fighting for wins so surely it's not a car we'll miss.”

In a wet weather-affected qualifying around the Las Vegas Street Circuit Leclerc could only qualify P9 while Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton finished dead last and was knocked out in Q1 - the first Ferrari driver to do so since 2009.

Despite the Monogasque driver achieving seven podiums in this year’s SF-25, the Scuderia are winless in 2025 and sit in P4 in the constructors' championship.

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Having slid from P2 following their double DNF in Brazil, Leclerc delivered a difficult verdict on Ferrari’s constructors championship objective following a tough qualifying in Las Vegas.

“I mean we're fighting for third or maybe second, but honestly second is going to be difficult for the constructors.

“What I want to do is to be fighting for wins so surely it's not a car we'll miss.

Ferrari qualified P9 and P20 under the Las Vegas lights - Photo: Race Pictures

Mercedes, who hold P2 in the constructors championship, qualified in P4 with George Russell and P17 with Kimi Antonelli, who had hoped to bring his strong Brazil form into Sin City.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen meanwhile qualified on the front row alongside Lando Norris, with Yuki Tsunoda eliminated in P19 during Q1.

STANDINGS	TEAM	POINTS
P2	Mercedes	398
P3	Red Bull Racing	366
P4	Ferrari	362

Damage limitation

Ferrari will be hoping to keep their constructors championship fight alive going into the final two weekends in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. But in the meantime Leclerc anticipated a tricky fight back at the Las Vegas GP.

The top 3 after Las Vegas qualifying - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

“We'll try to make something special happen anyway.

“The thing is that we have quite a high downforce, which was supposed to help us in those conditions. It's not like we're starting that much, I mean that further up. So yeah, it's going to be tough to overtake.”

Leclerc has Isack Hadjar ahead in P8, followed by Fernando Alonso in P7 and Liam Lawson in P6.

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