Hamilton and Leclerc cool expectations as Ferrari's Austin upgrade amounts to 'half a tenth'

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc arrived at the Circuit of the Americas for the United States Grand Prix having already tempered expectations around Ferrari’s headline upgrade package, with Hamilton going as far as to call it worth “half a tenth” of a second.

The Scuderia brought what appeared on paper to be a meaningful set of changes to Austin — a new floor, modified sidepods and revised bodywork all aimed at reducing drag. But both drivers, speaking at the pre-race press conference, were quick to deflate the buzz that had built around the package in the days leading up to the weekend.

“They are not that major upgrades,” Leclerc said. “I’ve heard quite a lot about them, but they are not as big as maybe what’s going around. It’s a small step in the right direction — that’s always the target. Then we still need to put it on the car, do the first few laps and see whether the step we expected is there.”

Hamilton was even more direct in his assessment, framing the upgrade against the performance gap Ferrari currently faces from Red Bull. “It’s less than a tenth — it’s like half a tenth,” he said. “I don’t think that propels us forwards to be able to necessarily challenge that deficit. Red Bull are just as quick through all the corners as us now, and they’re three or four tenths quicker down the straights.”

Hamilton acknowledged that circuit characteristics and rival form could still play a role. “Maybe the track suits our car, maybe they’ll have a one-off weekend, maybe Mercedes will have an off weekend again — and we’ll be right there to take it,” he added.

Despite the cautious framing, Leclerc pointed to how fine the margins have been across the top four teams in recent races, suggesting even a modest gain could shift the competitive order. “As soon as someone brings an upgrade, even if it’s not a very significant one, that’s enough to go from fourth of this group to first of this group,” he said. “Red Bull have shown that very well, and I hope we’ll show that this weekend.”

Leclerc also noted that other teams were reportedly arriving in Austin with more substantial development packages, adding another layer of uncertainty to where Ferrari would ultimately stack up once running began.