F1 UPDATE TODAY: Ferrari Driver Charles Leclerc Just Terminate His Contract with Ferrari and announce leaving
Ferrari goes into the remaining six rounds still with an outside chance in the Constructors’ Championship as it sits in third position, 75 points behind leaders McLaren.
The Italian marque revitalised its prospects with upgrades at the Italian Grand Prix which appeared to eradicate the problem it encountered with earlier developments.
Leclerc triumphed with the improved SF-24 at Monza and converted pole position into second place in Baku, while Ferrari also showed competitive pace in Singapore.
But even prior to introducing those new parts, Ferrari had anticipated that the unique circuit characteristics at the previous three tracks would suit its 2024 challenger.
With the Circuit of the Americas boasting a range of cornering speeds, Leclerc suspects this event will provide a true barometer of the progress that Ferrari has made.
“For me, I still expect McLaren to be in front, Red Bull to be very similar to them,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“And then us and Mercedes, depending on how good of a weekend we have, will be there, but we are not the favourite going into this weekend.
“So then to see how far we’ll be, it’s difficult to predict.
“We’ve had a few upgrades in the last few races, so I think this is definitely the track where we will put all of those upgrades at test, because until now, Singapore, Baku, Monza, those are very specific tracks which are focusing only on one characteristic of the car.
“However, here it’s a more all-rounded track where every characteristic of the car will count and there I think we’ll see where we’ve done the biggest progress, and if we’ve done enough of a step to be fighting with them, but I don’t think we quite have the answer yet.”