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.