COTA 1-2 sees Ferrari close to within 48 points of McLaren, as constructors' title becomes a three-way fight.

Along with the Sprint, the Maranello outfit left Austin 55 points better off than when it arrived, compared to Red Bull's 29 and McLaren's 28.

Just 5 points down on the world champions, Ferrari is now 48 points adrift of the championship leaders, with five races and two Sprints to go.

"It hasn't been an easy weekend until now," said race winner Charles Leclerc, "I struggled a little bit with the feeling in the car, but I had the confidence that in race the feeling was better, and it was the case.

"We thought that the others would improve a lot more," he admitted, "but we still had the upper hand.

"I'm really happy with today's 1-2, we couldn't have dreamed of better. It was a pretty good Turn 1, that's exactly what I wanted to do, we had a really good launch. In the second stint, it was all about managing behind, but we did a great job, the pace of the car was really good and that's mostly thanks to the engineers.

"They have been working like crazy over the last few months to bring the upgrades that we had in Singapore and the last few races, and it seems to be paying off," he said.

"The whole team is working super well, the pit stops were really good, everything worked out well so I'm really happy.

"We are still targeting the title," he insisted. "It's a long way to go but a good start to this triple-header."

"It's a result that puts us where we want to be," added his teammate Carlos Sainz, "in the fight for the constructors', so extremely happy for everyone in Ferrari right now.

"I knew a lot of the race was going to be decided at the start," he admitted. "I knew Lando and Max were going to go hard in Turn 1 and unfortunately, I got the worst of it and didn't get that lead.

"Tyre management is definitely the strength of the car this year, how long we can go on stints and how little deg we have," said the Spaniard. "It's something I enjoy and something that has made me enjoy racing a lot more than last year.

"We spent all of the races defending and losing places, this year it seems like we can go in attack mode and just push and overtake, and it's fun. I hope it stays like this."

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