Mekies: Red Bull 'protected' from Ferrari by top speed advantage

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies says Red Bull is "protected" from the Scuderia's contenders on Sundays by the RB18's top speed advantage.

In Austin, Max Verstappen conquered his 13th win of the season, a triumph that not only enabled the Dutchman to join Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel as the co-record holders of the greatest number of wins in a single season, it also delivered the Constructors' championship to Red Bull Racing with three laps to spare.

Although Ferrari appeared to have a superior package at the start of its campaign, Red Bull's RB18 came into its own as the season unfolded.

There was no denying the RB18's top speed, a strength than never wavered even when F1 introduced a tweak to F1's floor regulations at Spa, a change that many believe impacted Ferrari's charger.

The Italian outfit's F1-75 has been on a par and even quicker than Red Bull on Saturdays. However, come Sunday, the Scuderia's car is no match for its rival due to excessive tyre degradation.

But straight-line speed has also been a major performance differentiator between red Bull and Ferrari on race days.

• Read also: Leclerc 'expected more' in Austin despite podium finish

"It is not the first race where they are racing with a top speed advantage on all the other competitors," said Mekies after last Sunday's race, quoted by Motorsport.com.

"They managed to deal with that and certainly when there are some fights like today, it is an advantage. It is something that we always try to balance between lap time and top speed.

"The bottom line is they had a bit of a pace advantage, as they did for most Sundays this year.

"They can have a very good protection from us to attack with their top speed."

Unfortunately, Ferrari was down one driver as soon as the first corner when a melee between poleman Carlos Sainz and Mercedes' George Russell led to the former's retirement.

"It was a bit of a shock to lose Carlos like that after a few hundred metres and it is quite rare to see this happen," admitted Mekies.

"It is part of the game but it is a shame, because it was a great opportunity and I think we were all – us, Red Bull and Mercedes – were all close on pace so it would’ve been great to have been in the fight also with Carlos."

On the other side of the Italian outfit's garage, Leclerc produced his best effort to finish third after starting a lowly P12.

"Starting from P12 with Charles and at some stage fighting for P2 was a brilliant way to come through the field, so very well done to Charles, to the team," added Mekies.

"It was a good way to progress through the field. I think at some stage it was also a good fight with Max.

"He fought very hard, but probably we still are a little bit down compared to Max in race conditions but definitely Charles gave it a good go."

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