Mekies wary of Ferrari setup: "Our weaknesses there are exposed"
General
- Rafael Diaz Lehmann
Racing Director of Scuderia Ferrari, Laurent Mekies, has a lot of praise for Carlos Sainz's performance after Qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. However, he does not believe that Pole Position means that victory will be easy.
"Carlos did a very good job. It was difficult to tell where we were with competitiveness," Mekies spoke to Sky.
"Carlos was on the case, and both drivers were pushing each other very hard. It's his second pole. He has been very close for many races this year."
Race pace
Although the Spaniard secured Pole Position, Mekies is wary as to whether Ferrari have the pure race-pace to challenge for the win with ease.
"Part of our strengths is to switch on the tyres and to perform on the first timed laps. Sometimes we pay for it in the race when our tyres are a bit more used, our weaknesses there are exposed. But we are trying to get the balance right and improve to deal with the tyres, whilst keeping this advantage to switch on these tyres over one lap."
While there have been races this year where Ferrari have struggled with tyre-wear, such as Miami, there have also been Grand Prix where Ferrari had the clear pace advantage, like Austria. It's not quite clear whether COTA will play to their strengths.
"It was incredibly close, but we expect Mercedes and Red Bull to be in the fight tomorrow."