Charles Leclerc ‘optimistic’ heading into the F1 United States Grand Prix

AUSTIN — Charles Leclerc is set to start fourth in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, but the Ferrari driver is decidedly “optimistic” about his chances of fighting forward when the lights go out.

Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, following qualifying on Saturday Leclerc went into detail some of the issues Ferrari is having at the moment in Austin. But he went on to note that those “limitations” are not present to such an extent in race conditions, leading to his optimism.

“None of us were capable of going to fight with the top two. They were too fast. But that’s also what we expected as a team,” said Leclerc on Saturday evening. “The first sector in qualifying yesterday and today we knew we have a limitation in our car at the moment and none of the setup options we thought of would cure that issue.

“But in the race we have a lot less that issue and so that’s why I’m a bit more optimistic for tomorrow’s race.”

Leclerc also outlined that the chances are there for him to win, provided Ferrari has the same pace they showed in the F1 Sprint Race on Saturday.

“I mean, of course the belief is always to try and go and win,” began Leclerc. “I think that if we see the similar pace to this morning, we have chances to win.

“However, I expect the others to have done a step forward.

“The issues were still there, but it maybe looked like the others have changed a little bit their philosophy of car setup and started to struggle as well in the first set up in the first sector like us, because the gap is not as big as yesterday on that particular sector,” continued Leclerc. “So that’s probably mean that tomorrow they will be also doing a step forward in the race.”

Speaking with the media on Thursday in Ferrari’s hospitality space, Leclerc cautioned that Ferrari were not the “favorites” coming into the United States Grand Prix, because it was not yet apparent whether recent upgrades made by the team were providing track-specific benefits — such as in Azerbaijan and at Monza — or whether they would translate to the Circuit of the Americas.

While results so far have shown signs of progress, Leclerc believes the real answer will come in the United States Grand Prix itself.

“I think we did [show progress],. if I assess what we see and what we feel from the beginning of the weekend. But tomorrow is the real test, obviously, with the whole race,” said Leclerc. “But if we see a similar pace this morning tomorrow in the race, I think we need a step forward for sure, because it’s normally quite a good track to look at all characteristics of a car.”

Leclerc, and the rest of Ferrari, will get those answers later today.