After a disastrous 2020 season, Ferrari has turned things around this season. The duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have shown very impressive performances this season. In his first season with the team, Sainz finished 5th in the drivers’ championship, two places ahead of his teammate. The Maranello team also won the midfield and finished 3rd in the constructors’ championship.
DISPLAY
The article continues below this ad
Ferrari struggled with a weaker engine and a sluggish car in 2020. With changes in the aggregates, the SF21 found the pace again in the 2021 season. However, Race Director Laurent Mekies recently said the SF21 is prone to overtaking despite the better pace.
DISPLAY
The article continues below this ad
Mekies believes the drivers were unable to overtake in the first half of the season after the cars overtook them. This killed the overall performance of the team on the track.
Ferrari also had problems with the 2021 F1 car
The team celebrated an extraordinary comeback in the 2021 season and marched back among the top teams. Drivers like Lando Norris expect the Maranello team to fight for wins and podiums next season. For Ferrari, however, the situation was not all rosy, at least for much of the 2021 season.
“In absolute terms, there is nothing about the new hybrid system that you could say that it was a game changer,” said Mekies, as reported by PlanetF1.
“But when you think about it again, you think, ‘What if we hadn’t had those tenths and hundredths of a second?’ It would have put us back X positions. “
The changes to the engines were associated with the restriction that the SF21 remained prone to overtaking maneuvers. Sainz and Leclerc had to rely on this extra pace to avoid such a situation. Mekies believes that it ruined the team’s overall performance in some ways.
“Because the field is so narrow, we find it [updated power unit] was very significant in the second and especially in the third part of the season. In some situations we were prone to overtaking, which affected the overall performance of the car. When we were behind it was, “added Mekies.
DISPLAY
The article continues below this ad
“That little extra helped us to make better use of the car’s potential because we were less susceptible and could drive freely more often.”
DISPLAY
The article continues below this ad
With an engine shutdown in F1 in 2022, the F1 teams look forward to closing the gap with the top teams. The Frenchman is optimistic about closing this smaller gap in the coming season. It would be interesting to see if Ferrari can compete with Mercedes in terms of raw performance in 2022.
DIVE DEEPER
Did you enjoy reading this article? Download our exclusive app for 24×7 coverage, latest memes and social media banter. Click here to download.
