Ferrari prepared to make ‘sacrifice’ during US Grand Prix to gain advantage over McLaren and Red Bull

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Although the battle appears to be between McLaren and Red Bull for the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari aren’t out of the equation yet.

Charles Leclerc has the faintest of chances to catch Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, but in reality, Ferrari’s aim for the rest of the season should be to try and overturn the lead Red Bull – and potentially even McLaren – have over them in the team standings.

The United States Grand Prix is the first race after the autumn break and nearly every team looks set to bring substantial updates to the COTA.

Carlos Sainz has suggested that Ferrari could spring a surprise at Austin, although there’s only one practice session for every team to try and implement the upgrades they’ve developed.

Ferrari have been criticised over recent seasons for their strategy calls, but as Leclerc’s victory at Monza proved, under Frederic Vasseur they’ve shown clear signs of improvement.

In fact, Nico Rosberg believes Vasseur was personally involved in Leclerc’s victory and he’ll hope to have a similar impact over the next six races.

A report from Formu1a.uno has shared what Ferrari’s head of vehicle dynamics Carlos Galbally has said about the team’s preparations for the US Grand Prix.

READ MORE: What teams do well at US Grand Prix with Mercedes and Red Bull successful at COTA

Galbally was explaining how Ferrari are preparing for the race and admitted one ‘sacrifice’ they’re set to make to try and gain an advantage over their rivals.

Ferrari set to ‘sacrifice’ performance at the US Grand Prix with key ‘focus’ on Sprint Qualifying

Reflecting on Ferrari’s approach to the race, Galbally said: “COTA is one of the tracks that puts the most energy on the tyres, with corners equally divided between left and right, but also front and rear put under pressure.”

“It will require a well-balanced car, especially for the progression from low to high-speed corners”.

“In Qualifying, we will need to warm up the tyres to be fast in the first sector, but still have performance at the end of the lap.

“In the race, however, we will need to sacrifice a bit of performance in the ‘esses’ of the first sector, avoiding making an extra stop.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

“We will focus on Sprint Qualifying, scheduled for a few hours later. It will be important to have simulation tools correctly correlated to avoid having to make too many changes to the set-up.”

The Circuit of the Americas contains a mix of low and high speed corners making it difficult to set up a car in one particular direction.

Pirelli are bringing their second-softest tyre selection which might be why Ferrari are hoping to set the car up to look after these trickier compounds and attempt to stop one less time than their rivals.

Carlos Sainz which race is Ferrari’s next chance to win a Grand Prix

Leclerc’s victory at Monza wasn’t expected but it’s not uncommon for Ferrari to concentrate their efforts on succeeding at their home race.

McLaren are expected to lead the way in Austin while everyone is interested to know how Red Bull’s updates are going to impact their car.

Sainz has shared when he next expects Ferrari to win a race, suggesting he’s not thinking about standing on the top step of the podium in Texas on Sunday.

However, the Spaniard will want to try and achieve at least one more win before he heads to Williams in the winter.

His odds of earning another victory are likely to drop significantly once he joins the Grove-based team for 2025.