Ferrari’s Laurent Mekies: “We can be pleased with the performance of the F1-75”

Laurent Mekies admitted it was frustrating to see both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. miss out on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, but despite this, Scuderia Ferrari can be pleased with their performance at the Suzuka International Racing Course.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took pole position in Japan, with Leclerc joining him on the front row.  However, the Monegasque racer was only 0.010 seconds back on Verstappen’s pole setting time, while Sainz was only 0.057 seconds back in third.

Mekies, the Racing Director at Ferrari, felt Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz were in a different league compared to everyone else, but despite missing out on pole position, everyone at the Maranello-based squad can be happy with the performance of the F1-75 on Saturday.

“It was an extremely close qualifying session: we missed pole position by just one hundredth of a second with Charles and half a tenth with Carlos,” said Mekies.  “It’s a shame as we know on this track pole is very important, however there were still a lot of positives for us today, as our car was very competitive with both drivers.

“Together with Max, they were in a league of their own on a track featuring all types of corners and that says a lot about the quality of their cars. So, we can be pleased with the performance of the F1-75, and we were also able to save one set of Soft tyres with both drivers in Q2.

“It’s a sign that all the work we have done in Maranello over the past few months is paying off, so a big thank you goes to everyone back at the factory. Yesterday the track was always wet, so today we had to start from zero.

“Both our drivers worked perfectly with the team and were able to get into a rhythm immediately, putting in some solid laps and improving progressively through the sessions all the way to Q3.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Mekies reckons many aspects will play their part, including the uncertainty over the weather, but Ferrari will be doing everything they can to come out on top and finish ahead of Verstappen.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be a very long race with many aspects playing their part, starting with the weather,” Mekies added.  “Tonight we will analyse all the data and prepare for every possible scenario.

“Max will be as usual super fast, but we will do our best to try and battle with him right from the first lap.”