The teams are preparing for the first back to back races of the 2021 Formula 1 season, which will take place in the Iberian Peninsula: Portimao with its roller coaster ups and downs, followed by the most classic of the May events, the Spanish GP, at the Barcelona circuit.
Just last October in Portimao, Scuderia Ferrari tested for the first time a rough version of the 2021 cut floor in free practice, gathering some useful data for the famous correlation on the track.
That floor that is expected, between here and Barcelona, in an even more implemented version than the one proposed at Imola. The Z version guarantees greater control of turbulence towards the car diffuser. The vortex generated works as a sort of “screen”, partially taking up the much more articulated and efficient function produced by the slots located in front of the rear tires.
Many teams, Alpha Tauri in the first place, have already installed vortex generators in that area in the tests to clean up the flows.
At Imola on the SF21, after testing it on Friday morning with Carlos Sainz, this macro component immediately worked quite well and with interesting results, giving clearly positive sensations. This is why we saw Ferrari – thanks also to its proximity to the factory – decide to mount them without much hesitation on both cars and use them for the rest of the weekend. At the moment a team that has maintained a more standard design has been the direct opponent of the Maranello team.
Mclaren, together with Alfa Romeo and Haas, has in fact for now opted for a choice that guarantees, as far as possible, a greater area, even with respect to the configurations adopted up to now.
With this in mind, Portimao offers a very interesting stage, still different from the first two races. A circuit where the car must ‘rotate’ very well and where multiple trajectories can be exploited according to the driving style and the car’s qualities.
It is an interesting track because the very wide carriageway allows lines that are not completely obligatory, where we will certainly see differences in interpretation.
Based on what we saw in 2020, the performance difference between narrower lines, at lower speeds, and wider ones, with a few km / h more travel, were favorable to the former also due to the poor (just to put it mildly) adherence. In this regard, Pirelli expects a positive evolution of the track in terms of grip. The compounds will be the same as in the 2020 edition, the hardest in the range : C1 / C2 / C3, confirming the trend that sees the minimum pressures lower, especially in this circumstance on the front tires.
Portimão has a medium-high load layout with a certain tendency to protect the front, especially the left front tire. It could be a problem in qualifying for the Mercedes W12 which struggles more than the RB16B to turn on the front wheels, but then manage them better during the race.
Aerodynamically, Portimao should reward more load values rather than efficiency. And it is not a very high-consumption track.
Double DRS zone: on the main straight, 120 m shorter than in the previous edition, and a new one, on the back straight between turns 4 and 5.
Behind Red Bull and Mercedes, Ferrari believes it can be a real protagonist especially in Qualifying. The track may be favorable to the SF21, similarly (or perhaps even more so) in Imola, where less than hoped for was achieved in the end (which is why the Ferrari SF21 achieved less than it deserved at Imola ).
It must be said that the SF1000 behaved fairly well last year, containing the gap better than usual, paying more in the race due to the chronic compromise set-up, but finishing the same with relative ease in fourth place.
It should also be emphasized, however, that the asphalt, more than the weather, played a role not to be overlooked. The SF1000 benefited enough from the heavy lack of grip which flattened the performance. This aspect today could have a much lesser impact on the values in the field.
The goal remains the third place in the constructors championship, now 7 points away, the same that separate the first two team leaders: Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. Always keeping an eye on Alpha Tauri who also achieved much less than what the AT02 showed, due to bad choices, driver errors and even a little bad luck.
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