Austin result was an "extra motivation for everyone for the rest of the championship," claims Vasseur

On the back of the Scuderia's first podium finish since the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur claims that the Austin result will serve as an "extra motivation for everyone for the rest of the championship."

Following a tough opening day at the United States Grand Prix, Ferrari bounced back on Saturday to claim a fourth and fifth place in the Austin F1 Sprint before Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton delivered a superb job to secure P3 and P5 for the race itself.

The Monegasque took a gamble in the race, becoming the only driver in the top top 15 to start on the soft tyre. That risk paid off, as he made his way past McLaren rival Lando Norris through Turn 1.

Although Leclerc was expected to struggle on his red-walled tyres, he managed to keep his soft tyres alive. He made his sole pit stop relatively early and kept Norris behind, but he eventually lost out to the Briton in the dying stages of the race. He still managed to secure his first podium finish since Belgium.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton opted for the conventional strategy, starting on the mediums. He ran fourth for most of the race. Although he managed to stay close to Norris and Leclerc in the early part of the race, he lost valuable time during the laps directly ahead of his pit stop, which meant he had to settle for fourth place.

Speaking of the Austin race, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur added: "It’s great to be back on the podium with Charles and to have Lewis in fourth place. It’s good for them and great for the team. It’s extra motivation for everyone for the rest of the championship.

The Scuderia struggled for one-lap pace on Friday which saw Hamilton and Leclerc qualify only eighth and tenth on the grid. However, the Italian team managed to bounce back in the sprint race and the Grand Prix qualifying session which was - according to Vasseur - down to the better usage of Pirelli's tyres.

"I’m particularly happy with how we were able to fight back after a very difficult start to the weekend. The progress came from fine tuning the car and focussing a lot on the tyres.

"If you don’t get them in the window you can lose five or six tenths and that’s what happened to us on Friday. So, I’m proud of the team and how they reacted.

The Frenchman continued: "Today, the pace was there and we decided to be aggressive with the strategy with Charles to try and be P1 going into the first corner and it worked in part as he gained one place. But now our focus must switch to being back on track on Friday in Mexico and try again.