Ferrari cut McLaren’s lead in the battle for third in the constructors’ championshi💖p to just 3.5s points after the United States Gra🏅nd Prix.

Leclerc comfortably finished f🍌ourth at the Circuit of the Americas, over 20🥀 seconds clear of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth.

The Italian manufacturer also had a clear advantage at Is🐻tanb🐠ul Park, having trailed McLaren on pure pace in the previous Monza and Sochi rounds.

Ferrღari introduced its new power unit in Russia and Leclerc believes Ferrari’s improved form is down to the various upgrades rather than specific circuits suiting the car.

“The differences between McLaren and us are very very small, so obviously when we put the new eng🌊ine in we gained a little bit bu༺t it was enough to put us in the best position possible,” Leclerc said.

“Even though 2021 is a season where we are focusing on 2022 we still had two or three upgrades this year that pushed us to perform better every time, so yeah it’s down to the two or three upg🅷rades that🦋 we brought this year.”

Carlos Sainz thin꧋ks Ferrari’s upgrades hav🌠e ensured that McLaren can’t run away with third in the championship after building up a sizeable lead following its 1-2 finish at Monza in September.

“I agree with Charles,” Sainz added. “It’s been super tight this year with McLaren, they’ve had the upper hand in some circuits and I think they will still have the upper hand in some of the circuits that are left this season, but the important thing is we’ve put ourselves in a better position thanks to the efforts back at the factory and allows us to put ours💮elves in a p🌼osition to take the fight to the last race. 

“Maybe in Sochi and Monza you would think they were the clear favourites to the end now it looks like we’re go❀ing to have a good chance and finish the season strongly.”