The result in Austin was respectable. The explanation behind it was more revealing. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the United States Grand Prix, but the bigger story was not the position itself. It was the sense that Ferrari had enough pace to fight near the front and still left one of its drivers chasing a balance problem that kept him from turning that speed into a podium.
That is what makes Hamilton’s fourth place at the Circuit of The Americas more interesting than a simple missed opportunity. Ferrari brought upgrades to the weekend, and the team had reason to feel encouraged after Charles Leclerc topped practice on Friday and Hamilton did the same on Saturday. But qualifying pushed both drivers back a step, with Hamilton starting fourth and Leclerc fifth behind the two Red Bulls, while Kimi Antonelli took pole position. From there, the race became less about raw promise and more about execution.
Why Hamilton slipped back
Hamilton said the opening stint already put him at a disadvantage because he did not have a new tyre to start on. In his view, that left him with more degradation early in the race, and he estimated the difference between a new tyre and a used one as about two seconds of race pace. That is a significant gap in a field as tight as this one, especially when the front of the race is decided by the smallest margins.
But the more important issue was balance. Hamilton was direct about that point, saying balance was his biggest problem and that the car was off. He also explained that he simply could not keep up with Leclerc because Leclerc had more front wing, which allowed him to turn the car more cleanly. Hamilton said it was the same issue again, and noted that it had also happened at Silverstone. That makes this less like a one-off and more like a recurring setup concern Ferrari still needs to solve.
Ferrari still has a points picture to protect
Even so, the race was not a complete setback for Ferrari. Leclerc passed Max Verstappen for second on the road late in the race and reported a strong pace of his own. He also enjoyed the racing more than the result sheet alone might suggest, including the early scrap with Verstappen and later battles with Lando Norris and Verstappen again. In other words, Ferrari had one driver close enough to the front to matter and another who could not quite make the same package work in the same way.
That split matters because Hamilton also pointed to the wider championship picture. He said Leclerc’s weekend was important for points and for keeping Ferrari ahead of McLaren so the team can hold second in the Constructors’ Championship. That is the practical upside of a weekend like this: even when the setup is not ideal and the balance is not where it needs to be, Ferrari can still do enough to protect its position.
But the concern is obvious. If Hamilton is repeatedly battling the same setup issue, and if it has already shown up at Silverstone and again in Austin, then Ferrari has a car that can look strong across practice but still leave race-day performance on the table. Hamilton said he believes he can be quicker if the set-up is right, and that is the key sentence from the weekend. The speed may be there. The challenge is getting the car to let him use it.
So Hamilton’s fourth place in Austin was not just a near miss. It was a reminder that Ferrari’s margins are still fragile, even on weekends when the team looks competitive in practice. Leclerc’s second place was proof of what the car can do when the package is working. Hamilton’s comments were proof that it is not yet working well enough for both drivers at once.
