"Ferrari will never stop dreaming," claims Leclerc after commanding victory in Austin

Having secured his eighth F1 victory at yesterday's United States Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was buoyed by the commanding race pace and excellent tyre management of his SF-24.

Ferrari locked out the second row on the grid for the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc setting the third and fourth-quickest lap in Saturday's qualifying session.

When the lights went green, both Ferraris had a great start from the second row, but Leclerc had the track position on the inside when the leading duo of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen ran wide. Although an early safety car meant that Leclerc had to defend hard from Verstappen at the restart, he was faultless as he disappeared up the track to take his third win of the year."

Reflecting on his eighth career victory, Leclerc said that tyre management has been pivotal to his race pace.

"It feels good to bring home a victory at the start of this triple header. The whole team did an amazing job to make this happen and a 1-2 brings us a good amount of points in the fight for the Constructors’ title. It’s an optimistic target, but we will never stop dreaming until it is done.

"I had a good start, leveraging the fact that Max (Verstappen) pushed hard into turn 1, and Lando (Norris) defended from him. I lined up my exit and overtook both of them. After that, I knew it would be a matter of taking good care of my tyres and just bringing it home.

"Our pace was really strong from the first lap onwards and I felt that I could pull away from Max quite comfortably. We’ve made a really good step in terms of our race trim, and hopefully, we will keep it up in the next few races.

"We will do everything to maximise our results and at the end of the year, we will do the maths and see where we stand."

His team-mate Sainz complained about technical issues in the early stages of the race, but Ferrari managed to cure the problem with a tweak to the setting. The Spaniard managed to undercut Verstappen in the pit stops, and then was also able to pull away for to Ferrari’s second 1-2 of the season.

"For the team this was basically the perfect weekend, so mega congrats to everyone both here and at home. My race was compromised at the start as I got blocked by Lando (Norris) and Max (Verstappen) fighting in front of me, which meant I did the first stint in Max’s dirty air.

Speaking of the technical gremlin, Sainz added: "We had an issue and for some laps I was concerned but we managed to address it and used our pace to undercut Max and finish in P2.

"It’s great to be able to go on the attack with this car and we want to fight until the last race for the Constructors’ Championship. We have to continue working like this for the remaining races, starting in Mexico City next week," concluded Leclerc.