After the Bahrain Grand Prix, teams have a three-week break until the second even of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Scuderia Ferrari deserves a more detailed discussion regarding the Maranello team’s prospects at Imola, if only because the race takes place close to home. The SF21 lost one second per lap in the first race, confirming what had already been understood from the pre-season testing session: the Ferrari car manages to get the tires up to temperature quite easily, a fundamental condition for a good fast lap in qualifying, but then it suffers a lot of degradation.
In Imola the front right should be under stress above all and not the rear ones as in Bahrain. In any case, with a good qualifying position, it would not even be necessary to invent great strategies to get a good final position given the track characteristics. We are not at last year’s levels, as the SF21 straight speed should be enough (even if the aerodynamic load will not be Sakhir’s ) to allow it to defend itself, with only one DRS zone.
The important thing, however, is not to make mistakes and not to lose positions in the pits. In the first Grand Prix, the pit stops were quite efficient, a comforting aspect. Tire changes can have more than one mode: there is the quick one and the ‘safe’ one, which is a safe procedure that lasts a little longer, but should eliminate or at least reduce the possible inconveniences. It applies in the event that the margin with the other cars is such that, at the exit of the pits, there is nothing to lose, in terms of positions, with a few more tenths. Let’s say that in Sakhir the red box operated halfway between the two procedures. It also seems that the thread of the wheel nuts has (finally) been modified, along the lines of the competing teams, in order to limit the risk of cross-thread, or the dreaded ‘stripping’ of the nut.
It is also necessary to do everything possible to avoid failures like the one that srisked compromising Carlos Sainz’s qualifying session, as the Spanish driver remained stationary on the track with the car ‘off’. The main switch that sends current to the system has three positions: during Q1, probably due to a violent passage on a curb, the switch (which is protected from accidental contact with the driver’s hand) has moved, cutting the power supply. Fortunately, modern F1 cars have the MGU-K, which if necessary turns into a powerful starter motor (so much so that in Ferrari the external starter has hardly been used anymore even in the pits, for several years). Here, this is exactly the kind of thing that today’s Ferrari cannot afford. Fortunately, fixing such an issue should be easy.
The development race, of course, also deserves consideration. We have heard and continue to hear the leaders of Maranello explaining how the real creative and productive effort is postponed to 2022. And we cannot question this logic, but one thing must be clear: it is not only Ferrari that has opted for this policy. With the current situation, the pandemic and the budget cap, practically all teams will do the same thing. And if Ferrari, as we hear, will present its latest real performance development at the Spanish GP, it is very likely that direct competition will do the same. However the season goes on, and considering that the 23 races around the world are a frankly utopian goal, there will be no extenuating circumstances for anyone.
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