Charles Leclerc says Ferrari "couldn't have dreamed for better" after claiming his third victory of the Formula One season at the United States Grand Prix.

The Monagasque started fourth on the grid but slipped ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on Turn One at the start of a dominant performance.

His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz claimed second place but failed to put Leclerc under any pressure as he coasted along at the front of the pack.

It is the 87th time the Italian team have achieved a one-two in their F1 history, while Leclerc took his eighth win in his career.

The 27-year-old, however, was pleased with the way the team overcame what he said had started as a tough weekend in Austin.

"Very happy, it hasn't been an easy weekend until now. I have been struggling with the feeling in the car, but I had the confidence in the race and the feeling was better," he said.

"We said in the sprint race we weren't scared, but we felt that the others will improve, but today we still had the upper hand, so really happy with how it went today, a one-two for the team. We couldn't have dreamed for better.

"Very happy [to get the first Ferrari one-two in the US in 18 years], and now we are still targeting the title, it's still a long way to go, but it's a good start to this triple header."

Leclerc now sits just 22 points behind Norris, who finished fourth behind Verstappen, in the drivers' championship, while Ferrari are just 48 points off McLaren in the race for the constructors' championship.

Having snuck in front of the two title challengers so early in the race, Leclerc was happy that he was able to hold onto his lead throughout.

"It was a pretty good Turn One, that is exactly how I wanted to do, we had a good launch, and I knew it would be tight," he added.

"[Saturday], I was a bit of a victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time, [on Sunday] I gained from it and that helped a lot in our first stint because we had a lot of mega pace.

"In the second stint it was all about managing behind, but we did a great job, the pace of the car this weekend was really good and that's thanks to the engineers.

"They've been working like crazy to bring the upgrades that we had in Singapore, and it seems to be paying off. Everything worked out well, and we are really, really happy."