Ferrari has shown speed flashes during the 2021 F1 season, with Charles Leclerc’s two poles in Monaco and Azerbaijan particularly highlighting the Scuderia’s pace.
But Ferrari was often slowed down by tire problems on Sundays as its rubber overheated as it tried to keep up with its competitors in the field.
After a weak French Grand Prix with no points, the team managed to outperform McLaren in Styria and again at the British Grand Prix last weekend, suggesting that the Italian team have at least partially got their most critical problem under control.
ANALYSIS: What caused Ferrari’s French F1 GP nightmare?
At Silverstone, Leclerc led most of the race after the high-profile clash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, but ultimately had to be content with second place behind the regained Hamilton.
After analyzing Ferrari’s performance increase in the UK, Team Principal Binotto stated that being able to run in clear air was the main difference from previous races.
“I think if you look at the Austria comparisons, [Lando] Norris was on the podium with a fantastic race, “said Binotto on Sunday evening.
“But when we analyze his race pace in Austria, it was very similar to ours, but we just got stuck in traffic. And I think that it’s somehow important to be ahead of the game from the start of the race.”
“Here Charles was ahead and in front and we could go at our own pace. If you compare our two drivers, one of the two is stuck behind them and the other has clean air.
“When Carlos was in clean air, he had Charles’ pace. I think that’s not our pace.
“I still think Lewis and Max have great speed ahead of us. But I think we’ve recovered since France and that’s the most important thing.”
Mattia Binotto, Ferrari team principal
Photo by: Alessio Morgese
Leclerc, who was in front for most of the race, seemed to help mitigate any tire issues the team is still facing, but Binotto added that the SF21’s performance improved even in traffic after fixing the front tire issues that plague Ferrari at Paul Ricard.
“After France, where we had problems with the front tires, I think the team regrouped, worked on it and somehow understood the weaknesses and tried to address them somehow,” he said.
“Now two races in a row that we had good pace in the race, which was also our weakness at the beginning of this season, which shows that we have made progress as a team and I’m more happy about that, which” is certainly more important, too for the second half of the season.
“After 10 races you have 17 points more than at the end of last season. As a team [we are] shows that progress is certainly a lot. “
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