Leclerc: Ferrari tyre improvement might take away Las Vegas strength

Ferrari’s one-off strength in Las Vegas last year may have been blunted by the team’s overall tyre management gains

Charles Leclerc believes the progress Ferrari has made on its tyre management this year might actually hinder the team’s chances at Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

After a 2023 campaign in which Ferrari struggled with tyre wear and overheating, the cold conditions at Las Vegas actually turned Ferrari’s rapid tyre warm-up into a strength, with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz locking out the front row.

While Sainz fought back to sixth after taking a grid penalty, Leclerc looked good value to take his first and only win of the season until an unfortunately timed safety car wiped out his advantage and allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take control.

Ferrari’s superior traction, which stood it in good stead on the Las Vegas Strip circuit, is still one of its strong suits this year.

But Ferrari has since dramatically improved its tyre wear issues and race pace in general, which has made it competitive on a wide range of circuits and kept it in the hunt for the constructors’ championship.

After Ferrari struggled for pace in the Brazilian Grand Prix on a wet and colder Interlagos circuit, Leclerc believes that the Scuderia’s improvement in tyre behaviour could actually mean it is not as strong anymore in cold conditions. “We were very strong last year, so I hope we can be as strong,” Leclerc.

“It is true also, and I was thinking about that earlier, that this year we’ve done a big step in tyre management, which means that we also left something behind in cold conditions and tyre temperatures just like today [at Sao Paulo] was. Las Vegas is a bit of that scenario as well.

“So, let’s hope we can work in those two weeks to prepare it properly and be at a good level in Las Vegas. We were very strong last year; the characteristics of the track are better for our car. However, think it might be a bit trickier for us to put those in the [right] temperatures.”

Ferrari is still expecting Qatar to be its Achilles heel compared to McLaren, which excels through Losail high-speed corners, as both teams fight for the constructors’ title.

“Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi are the two races where I think we can do well,” he added. “Unfortunately, I think that Qatar will be a bit more difficult and it will be more about damage limitation.

“But it’s still three races to go, and hopefully we can make the most out of it and beat McLaren.”

After seeing the gap to McLaren grow to 46 points in Sao Paulo, Sainz added: “We will be alive until the very end.

“We have three weekends now coming up that are going to be important for the whole team and now we need to refocus, regroup and see how we can approach these last three races in the best possible way.”