Ferrari’s performance on track in the first nine races of the 2021 Formula 1 season has been so fluctuating that it is very difficult to make any prediction regarding the upcoming British Grand Prix, a race that remains to be discovered, even if only for the unknowns represented by the the most awaited news of the weekend, the Sprint Qualifying.
Both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had a good race pace in the Styrian and Austrian GPs at the Red Bull Ring, but they were returning from performances definitely to be forgotten at Paul Ricard. Charles Leclerc, in particular, confirmed that he is a specialist of qualifying: this year he took pole position twice, but in the Austrian Grand Prix he was unable to access Q3, testifying to an inconsistency of results for which Ferrari has not yet managed to find a solution.
Could Silverstone mark a turning point in the Maranello team’s season? A clear turnaround in view of the rest of the 2021 Formula 1 championship is perhaps not exactly the most reliable prediction, because the competition from McLaren is very close, but certainly the English weekend could represent a good opportunity to try to move up in the standings. Damon Hill spoke of the approach that the Maranello team will take in the British Grand Prix. In a recent episode of the F1 Nation podcast, the world champion with Williams in 1996 said that the Ferrari drivers themselves “don’t know what to expect from the car. A circuit awaits them that could turn out to be a dream but also a nightmare. Maybe [the Ferrari cars] do well in qualifying and then have a bad race. So Ferrari are all over the place, up and down. After all, their season has gone this way so far, but it is also true that historically the reds have always been strong at Silverstone, so we’ll see”. – he explained.
For Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren remains the number one rival and target, above all that of Lando Norris, who on his home track will do everything to confirm the excellent performances of the previous races and try to grab third place in the Drivers’ standings. “McLaren is undoubtedly in excellent shape,” concluded Damon Hill. They are approaching the top positions, in Austria they have almost taken pole position with Norris, who will have an excellent chance of finishing among the first in Friday qualifying.” – the former Formula 1 driver concluded.
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