Scuderia Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies has stated that their team does not hold any pace advantage over McLaren.
McLaren driver Lando Norris said on Thursday that he feels that the Maranello based team hold a pace advantage over them now. This comment was made after Ferrari put in a strong performance in Istanbul two weeks ago.
The two teams are fighting for third in the Constructor’s Championship. McLaren seemed to have the better car at the start of the season, but Ferrari’s developments have brought them much closer to the team from Surrey.
Mekies, however, thinks that the Scuderia doesn’t hold any advantage whatsoever. “No, we are not a large step ahead,” he told RacingNews365.
“I really don’t think we are. I think, in Turkey, we had a very good performance both on Saturday and Sunday. So it was certainly points that was above our goal.”
Friday in the bag!#essereFerrari 🔴 #USGP pic.twitter.com/7VpdviO4ec
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 22, 2021
We have no idea why we showed so much pace in Turkey, says Ferrari boss
Charles Leclerc showed tremendous pace in Istanbul. The Monegasque driver was even in contention for a race win at one point. Laurent said that the team was surprised when asked about how their car showed so much pace.
“It’s always a combination of many factors,” he said. “But, we have to see that when we look back at the numbers and we see that, compared to the average of the year, what we were expecting from the track and where we were expecting our competitors to be, we were in a better position there.”
“Even if you understand some of the reason why it is happening, doesn’t mean that you can reproduce it here!” he added. Ferrari and McLaren both led one another in FP1 and FP2 in Austin yesterday.
The Italian team expects their closely fought battle with McLaren to continue as the weekend goes on. The latter are currently 3rd in the standings with 240 points, followed by the Scuderia in 4th with 232.5 points.
