Ferrari pilots express dissatisfaction with the highly anticipated upgrade for the United States Grand Prix.

“Well, actually they are not that major upgrades that many... I mean, I’ve heard quite a lot about them, but they are not as big as maybe what’s going around. It’s a small step in the right direction, obviously, as always, that’s the target. Then we still need to put it on the car and do the first few laps and see whether that’s the step we expected is there.

"However, there are other teams I think I’ve heard that are bringing big upgrades, and so we’ll have to see how it is compared to them. But I don’t expect anything hugely significant, but I hope it can help us just do that little step forward and help us win the races.”

Hamilton went so far as to label it a "very, very small upgrade," noting that it would hardly yield even a tenth of a second.

“I think they will be very, very hard to, [Red Bull are] just as quick through all the corners as us in the last race, and that’s been our strength, so they’ve matched us now through the corners, and they’re three, four tenths quicker down the straights, so we have a very, very small upgrade this weekend.

"It’s less than a tenth, it’s like half a tenth, so I don’t think that propels us forwards to be able to necessarily challenge that deficit, but we’ll, you know, maybe the track suits our car, and maybe we’ll, maybe they’ll have a one-off weekend, maybe Mercedes will have an off weekend again, and we’ll be right there to take it.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Leclerc still believes that even minor adjustments can lead to significant outcomes, considering how competitive the top four teams have been in recent races.

“I expect a very tight top four teams, that’s for sure. I mean, I think that’s what we’ve seen recently, is that as soon as someone brings an upgrade, even if it’s not a very significant one, that’s enough to go from fourth of this group to first of this group, and I think Red Bull have shown that very well.

"And I hope we’ll show that this weekend with a few upgrades we brought. But it’s nothing significant on paper that shouldn’t change the hierarchy that we’ve seen in the past races. But yeah, I strongly believe that it will be very tight, just like it’s been in the last few races.”

Ferrari has showcased a robust chassis this season, but its power unit has left room for improvement. FP1 results are often not reflective of actual performance, but with Leclerc leading the first practice session by 0.084 seconds over Max Verstappen, Ferrari fans are likely to keep the excitement alive until more definitive evidence emerges. In contrast, Hamilton ended the session in sixth place using the previous configuration.

The team currently holds second place in the constructors’ championship with 444 points, 134 points behind Mercedes, and has not claimed victory since Leclerc’s win at Silverstone in July.