Leclerc turns down the noise with Austin podium as Ferrari closes ranks
Charles Leclerc didn’t just climb back onto the podium in Austin; he cut through a week of Ferrari static to do it. After two days dominated by whispers over the Scuderia’s leadership, the No.16 went wheel-to-wheel with Lando Norris for much of Sunday and banked third — his first rostrum in six races — just when Maranello needed a clean headline.
This wasn’t straightforward. A gearbox glitch in FP1 stripped Ferrari of laps and left Leclerc playing catch-up into the sprint sessions. The car sharpened up as the weekend went on, the set-up tweaks in qualifying finally unlocking some pace, and on Sunday he had a race car he could lean on.
“I’m very happy,” Leclerc said afterwards. “We had a gearbox problem in FP1, which cost us laps. We were a little bit on the back foot for the sprint quali and sprint race. Then in qualifying, we did some fine-tuning, found a lot more performance and today was a really good race for us.”
The timing was as important as the result. Ferrari chairman John Elkann made an unusually public show of support for team principal Frédéric Vasseur ahead of the United States Grand Prix, following a swirl of speculation — including talk of Christian Horner being linked with the job — that Vasseur himself described as chatter meant for a “third party.” Vasseur, it’s worth remembering, signed a new multi-year deal earlier this season.
At Ferrari, politics never sleep, and the drivers are never far from the firing line when the rumor mill spins. Leclerc didn’t hide that the second half of the season has felt heavy at times.
“The second part of the season hasn’t been easy,” he admitted. “There are completely unfounded noise and rumours around the team, and I think to demonstrate that in those kind of situations, we can stay focused on the job and be rewarded with a podium is a really nice feeling.”
On track, the Ferrari looked alive enough to let Leclerc fight, with Norris the reference for much of the afternoon. It was the sort of race he’s built his reputation on: tidy when it mattered, aggressive where it counted, and relentless in keeping the pressure on.
Beyond the optics, the points matter. The fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship is still ragged and raw, with only 10 points covering Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. Leclerc leaves Austin sitting fifth in the Drivers’ standings — not quite where he wants to be, but closer to striking distance than he was a week ago.
Ferrari needed this: a clean Sunday, no strategy facepalms, no self-inflicted wounds, and a result that steadies the ship after a fortnight of headlines about everything but lap time. Leclerc delivered it with a performance that felt very Ferrari when Ferrari is at its best — composed under pressure, efficient, quietly quick.
There will be more questions, because there always are in red. But for one afternoon in Texas, the answers came from the podium.
