Drivers who thrived in Formula 2 are likely to also thrive next year, as Formula 1 prepares to race into the future with its next-generation cars for the 2022 championship and beyond, which should be good news for Charles Leclerc. While Mercedes and Red Bull have been battling for the Formula 1 title this year, Scuderia Ferrari has been quietly focusing on designing its brand new car for the all-new regulations.
Red Bull’s Christian Horner admitted ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the Maranello team could capitalize on this situation: “Well, when Ferrari turn up with the fastest car and smash us out of the park at the first race, you’ll have to say that they probably did,” he explained.
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However, Christian Horner’s counterpart at Ferrari, Mattia Binotto, admitted that the process of focusing on 2022 this year has been frustrating for the Italian side:
“Seeing others celebrating the title is never nice,” he told Sky Italia during the Abu Dhabi weekend.
At the same time, he admits that no team has any idea what the 2022 pecking order will be: “For sure there is a great discontinuity for 2022,” Binotto said. “Even for those who drive the car, they will have to adapt. Not everyone will adapt in the same way – there will be a lot to learn about driving style,” he added, referring to the vastly different aerodynamic concept for the 2022 rules. The cars will look more like Formula 2, so whoever was strong in F2 will probably be fast in those cars too, but we still have to see. We won’t even be able to judge after two or three grands prix,” the Italian said. “As everything is different, teams and drivers will be adapting to setups, making developments and so on. So a few more races than normal will be needed for a definitive judgement.” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto concluded.
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