After six races of the 2021 Formula 1 season, Scuderia Ferrari is two points ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ standings. The distance also reflects the balance of power. The two traditional teams don’t give each other anything on the racetrack as both have come closer to the top duo. But where is Ferrari better, where is McLaren?
In 2007 and 2008 it was still a duel for the world championship. Ferrari versus McLaren: the racing team of the hearts from Italy against its British counterpart from Woking. Then other protagonists took over. Brawn GP, Red Bull and Mercedes subsequently won the world titles.
Ferrari and McLaren have nothing to do with the awarding of the biggest trophies in sport in 2021 either. And yet both look back on the first six races of the season with a certain satisfaction. McLaren took the next step and was able to defend third place in the Constructors’ World Championship. Ferrari has recovered from the disappointing 2020 Formula 1 season. Both have reduced the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes by at least half.
Both are now so close to the top duo on some racetracks, to the point that the leaders can no longer afford bad weekends. Otherwise Red Bull and Mercedes will suddenly have a red or papaya yellow car in front of their noses. Ferrari has even taken pole position twice. With Charles Leclerc they could have won the Monaco GP if it hadn’t been for a small crack on the rear left wheel hub. Carlos Sainz stood on the podium in Monte Carlo, one step above Lando Norris. The Englishman also placed his car in the top three at Imola.
Ferrari has the upper hand
This duel draws its charm from the fact that the two most successful racing teams race against each other for victories, pole positions and drivers’ world championships. After six races, it is 94 to 92 for Ferrari. McLaren scored better in the first three Grands Prix. But since then Ferrari has turned the tables and the ranking. Both team fight in their own league alone for the place behind the two top teams. Alpha Tauri and Aston Martin are already lagging behind by over 50 points.
The cars have different strengths and weaknesses. The SF21 feels right at home in slow corners and is also a fast car on other types of corners. The MCL35M loves the fast corners, is strong on the brakes and goes well on the straights, thanks to a powerful engine and a streamlined body. Ferrari, on the other hand, is still be missing around 20 hp on the Mercedes V6 turbo, which McLaren is using this season.
Ferrari has the regret of Charles Leclerc’s failure in Monte Carlo on its head. That weekend, the Scuderia should have made up more than 20 points on McLaren. There were only three in the end. With such close distances, every point counts. So Monaco was the better weekend overall for McLaren because the damage was kept to a minimum. Slow corners are actually not the preferred hunting ground for the car, but McLaren has shown that they can still be fast. The right adjustment was found for the prevailing type of turns.
McLaren’s little “qualifying weakness”
McLaren urgently needs a performance upgrade from Daniel Ricciardo, who is still not exploiting the potential of the MCL35M. The problem is the brakes. The Australian has not yet geared his driving style to the needs of the car. The process of getting used to it is taking longer than expected. Ricciardo has only scored 26 World Cup points. But teammate Lando Norris keeps McLaren up there with a fourth place in the drivers’ standings (66 points0. The 21-year-old was the only driver in the field to score points in every race until now.
Ferrari shows the more balanced team performance. Charles Leclerc has 52 points, Carlos Sainz 42. No other driver who changed teams this winter has got used to his new car as quickly as the Spaniard. Ferrari is also ahead of McLaren in qualifying. Only Red Bull manages to bring the tires up to temperature as fast as the SF21. McLaren doesn’t necessarily have any problems in this regard, but is amazed: “Ferrari drives out and is immediately quick. That shows that the drivers immediatly have confidence in their car.”
Ferrari beat McLaren six times in six qualifying sessions. Charles Leclerc’s average position stands at 3.6. Carlos Sainz in 6.5. Norris has an average starting position of 6.8 (not including the Baku starting penalty). With Ricciardo it is the tenth position. Ferrari always jumped into Q3 with one exception – Carlos Sainz in Imola. McLaren missed it with Ricciardo in Portimao, where the session was over for him already after Q1, Monaco and most recently in Baku. You can see where the team from Woking has to start. The performance on a fast lap has to get better. Otherwise they will start further behind Ferrari. And overtaking is all the more difficult with almost equivalent cars.
Let’s compare the races. Norris shone in fourth place at the start of the season. Ricciardo dragged himself through the night of Bahrain with a chipped diffuser after Pierre Gasly’s rear-end collision, but at least finished seventh. Ferrari stumbled because of excessive tire wear. Charles Leclerc sixth, Carlos Sainz eighth.
In Imola, Norris could have achieved a sensational result in qualifying if he hadn’t been denied the fastest lap because he exceeded the track limits. At the restart he caught Charles Leclerc by surprise and raced onto the podium. Team mate Ricciardo remained far behind, with no confidence in the car in the rain. He finished sixth – behind the two Ferraris. Carlos Sainz sled through the gravel several times, but recovered.
At Portimao, Ferrari made mistakes in tire management. The red cars forced the medium tyre into hard graining. The Ferrari approached the stints too aggressively. Charles Leclerc also had a seldom weak Saturday. Norris had the upper hand in midfield, as McLaren scored again with both cars, while Carlos Sainz achieved his weakest result for Ferrari in eleventh place.
Suffering in turbulent air
Spain was Ferrari country. The team had learned from Portugal’s mistakes, the tires were kept under control, and the Maranello team was two to three tenths faster than their rivals for third place in the championship. McLaren’s sore spot was the third sector with the mostly slow corners. There the red cars were better around the corners.
Barcelona revealed how important qualifying can be. McLaren didn’t help Ricciardo with a timing error. The Australian didn’t have a second lap in Q3 because he crossed the finish line a second too late. Norris damaged his car slightly in the first Q3 attempt and didn’t get a clean lap after that. McLaren believes that with a smooth finale, grid positions four and five would have been possible – ahead of Ferrari. So it became seventh and ninth place.
Ferrari discovered in Baku that the SF21 suffers too much in turbulent air. The engineers now want to work on that. On the other hand, when the race was clear, the pace was also right during the race.
Ricciardo was a failure in Monaco and Baku – as hard as it sounds. The seven-time GP winner could not trust his car between guardrails and walls. Bad pace, plus an accident in Q2 in Baku. Ricciardo is happy that it is now going back from street circuits to permanent racetracks, where mistakes are not so costly.
Too many mistakes in Monaco and Baku
Ferrari was on fire with two pole positions in a row but made too many mistakes, like Charles Leclerc’s crash in the second Q3 attempt in Monaco. Brake plates in the second stint in Baku. Carlos Sainz’s error after the pit stop on lap eleven with somewhat cold hard tires. There was also a bit of bad luck.
Charles Leclerc had to avoid a branch in turn 15 on the second lap. That drove him into Hamilton’s arms. With every overtaking maneuver thereafter – first Verstappen, then Perez – the Monegasse lost ground. Pierre Gasly got bigger and bigger in the rearview mirror. Ferrari tried to protect itself against the Alpha Tauri with an early tire change. The problem was that on that day, stopping later was the better option.
McLaren did not play its engine advantage profitably on the straights in Baku and made life difficult in qualifying. Disregarding the red flag threw Norris back three starting positions. Race director Michael Masi rebuked: “It is the same from karting to Formula 1. If you see red, you slowly drive back into the pits.” The team stood protectively in front of its driver. A decision had to be made within a second.
Somehow, in the chaos of Azerbaijan, both teams limited the damage. In a normal race, neither Ferrari (16) nor McLaren (12) could have counted on so many points.
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