Lewis Hamilton Says Ferrari Losing Out on Straights After P5 in 2026 US Grand Prix Qualifying

Scuderia Ferrari once again saw promising practice form fail to translate into pole position contention at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. After Charles Leclerc set the standard during Friday’s running and Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in Free Practice 3, the Maranello-based outfit was relegated to the second and third rows of the grid during Q3. Leclerc secured fourth place, while Hamilton lined up right behind in fifth, trailing his teammate by a slim margin of 0.044 seconds as Red Bull and Mercedes locked out the leading positions.

Straight-Line Deficit and Rival Gains Frustrate Hamilton

Following the session, Lewis Hamilton reflected positively on the handling characteristics of his SF-26, yet pointed squarely at Ferrari’s straight-line performance as the primary factor behind the qualifying deficit. Analyzing the data overlays, the British driver noted that rival cars retained power where Ferrari’s deployment trailed off.

We know through the weekend we look at the straight, like just up to Turn 1, when we cut power, they just keep pulling, he said. That’s similar in other places, like going into Turn 11.

I think we might be similar in maybe into 12, but then the rest of the lap, a little bit. You see it on the overlay. I don’t know what happened. My car felt really good. Lap was solid, so they were just quicker.

Hamilton also highlighted that competing teams have closed the aerodynamic advantage Ferrari enjoyed across much of the 2026 campaign. With rivals bridging the handling gap, the engine deficit has become far more pronounced.

Car felt good as I said, so it was a clean lap, no issues at all, really, he noted. So, I think that’s the only place we lose [the straight]. I think our car is really solid. I mean, at least as good, if not maybe slightly better, maybe than the others.

But I think they have closed up on chassis. You’ve seen the Red Bull closed up on their downforce. Mercedes took a three-tenth step of upgrade at least a couple of races ago. I think they’re starting to figure out how to utilise that, and so they’re now matching us through the corners.

And we’re not able to take that step, in this season, to close that speed on the straight.

Addressing the current form of the Red Bull Ford power unit, Hamilton evaluated the time lost across the circuit’s acceleration zones:

It varies. I mean, I haven’t seen the actual numbers this weekend. I think this morning it was like three-tenths, but in some places three to five tenths, maybe it’s four-tenths. It’s pretty impressive.

I don’t know if you see the overlays, but into Turn 1, ours starts dipping, and theirs just keeps going. So that’s hard to compete with.

If we had the same power as them, we would be right there in the battle. I think we’d probably be on the front row. But we know that that’s the case, so we try to make the best we can out of it.

Tyre Preparation Woes Compound Leclerc’s Q3 Struggles

Unlike his teammate, Charles Leclerc found little satisfaction in his qualifying run. The Monegasque driver struggled significantly with tyre preparation during the critical final phase of the session, falling outside the ideal operating temperature window.

It’s very disappointing, said the Monegasque driver. Because I think there are some other weekends where we’ve been strong in free practices, but then coming quali, it’s very clear that the others are just having a lot more in the straights, and it’s very difficult for us to match that.

But I felt like today it’s a Qualifying where we had the potential in the car. But the car also includes tyres. And in Q3, unfortunately, we were not in the right place, and it was like one or two degrees less in Q3, and for me it was a huge difference.

Just really struggled in the out lap – I was sliding quite a lot already from the out lap, and that made it very difficult after that.

Leclerc underlined that Ferrari must urgently diagnose why unlocking maximum grip on a single lap in Q3 has turned into a persistent stumbling block.

It is quite frustrating, but there are reasons for it, he said. And so at the same time, I think we just need to work harder and try and understand very well those tyres, even better than what we are doing now, because the others, I think, normally have a bit more.

It’s a bit easier for them to extract the lap time in Q3 than it is for us. And as soon as we are a tiny bit outside the window, we pay a lot the price. So this is something that we need to look into.

Why This Matters

Ferrari’s recurring discrepancy between practice and qualifying pace exposes critical operational challenges. While the SF-26 platform exhibits strong cornering performance, developmental strides by Mercedes and Red Bull mean Ferrari can no longer compensate for high-speed straight-line deficits. Furthermore, the sensitive operating window of the tyres leaves the team vulnerable to minor track temperature fluctuations during decisive Q3 runs.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s Grand Prix in Austin, overtaking at the Circuit of the Americas presents strategic hurdles, especially against rivals with superior top speed. Nonetheless, Hamilton remains attentive to race-day execution, starting with the uphill braking zone into Turn 1.

You have to be realistic, said Hamilton. We’re fourth and fifth. It’s very hard to overtake here. Even if you’re P2 on the grid, it’s hard to beat someone on race distance.

In 2012 it took a lot to get past Vettel back then. But maybe with strategy, we can progress. We can get a good run up into Turn 1 there’s opportunities there for strategy, so we should see.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will Ferrari start Sunday’s race in Austin?

Charles Leclerc qualified in fourth position, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, leaving Ferrari locking out the second and third rows of the grid.

Why did Lewis Hamilton lose time in Qualifying?

Hamilton explained that despite a clean lap and balanced handling, Ferrari lost ground on the straights—particularly on the run to Turn 1 and into Turn 11—where rivals continued to pull away after Ferrari’s power deployment tapered off.

What caused Charles Leclerc’s Q3 difficulties?

Leclerc struggled during his out-lap due to a minor drop in track temperature, leading to excessive sliding and preventing his tyres from reaching the optimal operating window for his flying lap.