Ferrari's twin demons struck again in Austin qualifying. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton lined up fourth and fifth, half a second off Kimi Antonelli's pole, undone by the same flaws that have shadowed them all season: a tyre warm-up deficit and a power unit that bleeds time down every straight.
Leclerc blamed a 1-2°C temperature drop in Q3 that left him sliding on the outlap, unable to switch the tyres on. It's the inverse of Ferrari's race-day tyre preservation strength — what wins on Sunday costs on Saturday. Hamilton saw it differently. His outlap was clean, but the SF-27 lost four tenths to Red Bull down the back straight alone, 10 km/h down at the speed trap. He reckoned Ferrari would be fighting for the front row with equal power.
Both drivers improved on their final Q3 runs — the only two to do so legally — but Antonelli and the Red Bulls had already banked faster laps when conditions peaked. Sunday's long-run pace should suit Ferrari better, but closing that power gap will take 2027.
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