Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was fast enough to beat Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli to win the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix, but Marc Surer believes he “cost” himself.

Antonelli bagged his ninth win of the season so far last Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The Mercedes driver was untouchable after seeing off the threat of Red Bull racer Max Verstappen into Turn 1, and he ultimately went on to win by 13.078s over Leclerc.

Leclerc twice made his way past Verstappen in his hopes of taking the fight to Antonelli. The Monegasque initially took second place off the four-time F1 champion with a brave move at Turn 4, but he then fell back behind the Dutchman after leaving the door open into Turn 16.

Leclerc and Verstappen’s early squabble over second place in the United States GP instantly allowed Antonelli to build a lead over the pair on Sunday. Ferrari’s decision to then pit early also meant Leclerc stood no chance of holding Antonelli back after the Mercedes ace pitted.

But Ferrari and Mercedes adopted different strategies, as Leclerc embraced a two-stop race with stops on Laps 15 and 39 while Antonelli adopted a one-stop race with a pit stop on L24.

Leclerc initially switched his soft C4 Pirelli tyres out for the C4 mediums and then to the C2 hards, while Antonelli started the race on the C4 mediums and then pitted for the C2 hards.

Making a second stop also dropped Leclerc behind McLaren rival Lando Norris, as the 2025 champion tried but failed to make his one-stop strategy work. Verstappen initially overtook Norris in Turn 1 on Lap 47 of 56, but Leclerc had to wait until Turn 14 and then also breezed past the Red Bull star on Lap 49 at Turn T12 – at which point he was 16.8s behind Antonelli.

Former Brabham F1 driver Surer believes it was in those battles with Verstappen and Norris that Leclerc cost himself a chance to win the United States GP. It would have been Leclerc’s second win of 2026 after the British Grand Prix, and also Ferrari’s first win since Silverstone.

“He was fast enough to win, but his duels cost him time,” Surer told Motorsport-Total. And on Antonelli’s race, Surer added: “Pole and the victory, and only one track limits [offence]!”

Ferrari can point to Leclerc’s first-lap battle with Red Bull rival Verstappen for being one of the reasons why the 29-year-old was ultimately unable to threaten Antonelli for the win in the United States GP. Leclerc used too much of his battery out of Turn 1 to get the run into Turn 3 and thus down Verstappen’s inside for T4 that he then let the Red Bull racer reply.

Had Leclerc been able to stay ahead of Verstappen beyond the first two sectors on Sunday, he and Ferrari would have had more strategic options at their disposal. Instead, Verstappen would force Ferrari to copy his two-stop strategy when the Red Bull driver pitted on Lap 13.

The picture could also have been very different had Ferrari pitted Leclerc onto the hard C2 Pirelli tyres instead of the medium C3s at his first stop. Leclerc’s pace on the hard tyres was arguably his strongest all race, with his lap times while in clear air on either side of passing Verstappen for P2 on Lap 49 around 1.4s per lap quicker than Antonelli’s times in the lead.