Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies admitted the way Carlos Sainz was take out of the 2022 United States Grand Prix by the first corner was a shock for the team.
Carlos Sainz took his third pole position in Formula 1 on Saturday in Austin, but his race unraveled by the first corner as a fast charging George Russell took the Spaniard out while the latter was busy trying to regain his position from Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc, qualified second and had to start from 12th on the grid after taking new power unit components, but fought back to finish third in the end.
Summing up the race, Laurent Mekies, Ferrari’s Racing Director told F1’s official website: “It was very, very mixed feelings.
“It was a bit of a shock losing Carlos like that after 300 metres, it’s quite rare to see these sorts of things happening nowadays,” he added.
“It’s part of the game but certainly it’s a shame. It was a great opportunity and I think from where Red Bull were, it would have been great to be in the fight with Carlos.”
Truly heartbreaking… ?
Time to move forwards and come back fighting in Mexico City ?#essereFerrari ? #USGP pic.twitter.com/oselA614mf
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 24, 2022
As for Leclerc’s race, Mekies commented: “On the other side, starting P12 with Charles and at some point being in P2 was a brilliant way to come through the field, so very well done to Charles for that and to the team.
Leclerc lacked a bit to fight Verstappen
“I think at some stage he had a good fight with Max, he tried very hard. I think he still lacked a little bit compared to Max in these kind of race conditions but he still gave it a good go,” he lamented.
Mekies credited Red Bull’s straight line speed, as Max Verstappen fought his was back to win the race after botched pit stop by the team were he stayed stationary for 11 seconds, overtaking the #16 Ferrari on his way.
“It’s not the first race they are racing with an advantage on the straight compared to all the other competitors,” he pointed out.
“They managed to deal with that and certainly when there are some fights such as today, it gives them an advantage; it’s something we always need to balance between lap time and speed and I think they had a bit of a pace advantage… as they have had at most of the Sundays this year,” the Frenchman explained.
Red Bull dedicated the race win and their fifth Constructors’ Title to their late founder Dietrich Mateschitz, and Mekies feels that was a proper tribute for the Austrian billionaire who passed away on Saturday just before qualifying.
“It is certainly the right place to play tribute to Dietrich Mateschitz,” he said. “We all have him in our thoughts. He was living for the sport and certainly our thoughts are with him today.”
“I pushed until the end” ? A strong recovery to wrap the #USGP weekend. ??#essereFerrari ? @Charles_Leclerc pic.twitter.com/mCa9UTdQvr
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 24, 2022