Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies reckoned Red Bull’s superior top speed at the US GP in Austin last weekend was the key differentiator between them at the rest.
After the second round of pitstops in Austin, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had an almost five-second lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P2 and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in P3. As the laps came down, Verstappen overtook Leclerc before hunting down Hamilton for the win.
Leclerc showed impressive pace at the start, but when the tire wear became an issue, the Ferrari driver could not keep up.
When the checkered flag fell, Leclerc finished the race in P3, behind Mercedes and Red Bull. Looking back at the race, Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies felt that Red Bull’s top speed advantage proved to be crucial in the race. He said:
“It is not the first race where they are racing with a top speed advantage on all the other competitors. They managed to deal with that and certainly when there are some fights like today, it is an advantage.”
He continued:
“It is something that we always try to balance between lap time and top speed. The bottom line is they had a bit of a pace advantage, as they did for most Sundays this year. They can have a very good protection from us to attack with their top speed.”
The other Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz started on pole position but with George Russell damaging his car, an early retirement ensued for the Spaniard. Talking about Sainz’s race, Laurent said that the team could have had a strong race if the Spaniard was not eliminated early on. He said:
“It was a bit of a shock to lose Carlos like that after a few hundred meters, and it is quite rare to see this happen. It is part of the game, but it is a shame, because it was a great opportunity, and, I think we were all – us, Red Bull and Mercedes – were all close on pace, so it would’ve been great to have been in the fight also with Carlos.”
Verstappen, who already clinched his second straight title at the Japanese GP, now has 391 points, well clear of second-placed Leclerc (267). Hamilton (198) is fifth, four points behind Sainz.
With Verstappen’s win, Red Bull also won the constructor’s title — their first in nearly a decade.
Charles Leclerc’s recovery drive was very impressive – Ferrari director
Charles Leclerc made his way through the field to finish P3 after starting the race in P12.
Mekies said that Leclerc had a very impressive start to the race and put on a valiant effort to Thwart Verstappen. He said:
“Starting from P12 with Charles and at some stage fighting for P2 was a brilliant way to come through the field, so very well done to Charles, to the team. It was a good way to progress through the field. I think at some stage, it was also a good fight with Max. He fought very hard, but probably we still are a little bit down compared to Max in race conditions, but definitely Charles gave it a good go.”
Ferrari will now hope for a return to form soon, with only three races remaining this season.
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