Antonelli Takes 7th Pole at US GP as 20-Year-Old Eyes First F1 Title

Q: Ferrari dominated practice but stumbled in qualifying; what hidden tire temperature issues derailed their US Grand Prix strategy?

Ferrari’s qualifying drop was mainly caused by a tyre warm-up problem triggered by a small fall in track temperature, which pushed the car out of its narrow operating window just as Q3 began. Charles Leclerc said Ferrari did not suddenly lose pace because rivals found a special engine mode; instead, the issue was “mostly the tyres.” A little more cloud cover in Q3 reduced the track temperature by only one or two degrees, but for Ferrari that was “night and day.” Leclerc reported sliding already on the out-lap, a clear sign the tyres were not generating enough heat before the push lap. That exposed a trait of the Ferrari package seen elsewhere this season. The car is good at keeping tyre temperatures under control over long runs, which helps on Sundays, but it can struggle to switch the tyres on quickly over a single lap. In Austin’s hot-but-variable conditions, that became critical. Ferrari had looked dominant in practice because it could exploit strong pace through the low-speed corners, the esses and the final sector, but qualifying required precise tyre preparation at exactly the right moment. Lewis Hamilton pointed to another weakness — a straight-line speed deficit to Red Bull and Mercedes — but he said his own lap felt clean and the car balance remained good. That supports the view that Ferrari’s bigger hidden problem in Q3 was not chassis balance, but failing to get enough temperature into the tyres on the out-lap once the asphalt cooled slightly.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 24

Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on pole in Austin with a 1:34.035 lap, beating Max Verstappen to give himself a shot at clinching the championship on Sunday.
A 102-point lead means the 20-year-old must win the US Grand Prix and have George Russell finish outside the top eight, with Lewis Hamilton outside the top four, to seal the title this weekend.
Verstappen qualified second and Isack Hadjar third for Red Bull, while Charles Leclerc and Hamilton took fourth and fifth for Ferrari; Russell was only sixth, four-tenths slower than Antonelli.
The pole was Antonelli's first since July in Belgium, his seventh of the season and Mercedes' first at Austin since 2019, suggesting the team's recent upgrade package is finally delivering.