Who would have bet just a penny on a Ferrari that could fight against Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes for 50 of the 52 laps of the 2021 British Grand Prix? None, not even within the Ferrari Racing Department, because the Silverstone track had been underlined with a blue pencil as one of the most difficult tracks for the SF21 car.
After winning the European football championship at Wembley, another Italian team came close to defeating the hosts. A success that got out of hand in the final stages inevitably leaves a bitter taste because the great result was possible, but in the end rationality prevailed.
“We are obviously sorry – commented Mattia Binotto – but in the end Hamilton was faster and we couldn’t keep up with him. So we have to be happy with the performances we showed all weekend. After the Paul Ricard disaster, the last few races have been a good sign, especially this one. We worked to fix our tire degradation problems and now we have interesting prospects for the second half of the season.”
In the prediction ahead of the 2021 British Grand Prix, there were even those who feared a repeat of the poor performance seen at Paul Ricard during the French GP, but this was not the case, because Charles Leclerc showed a good pace in the SF21 already from the first free practice session and then in qualifying on Friday.
The Scuderia did not introduce any important updates on the SF21 car, confirming the floor equipped with three more vortex generators that had already been seen in the race at the Red Bull Ring, so it was motivated to be cautious in view of Silverstone.
And then it becomes important to understand how a metamorphosis of a car that was actually nothing more than a copy of itself was possible.
“There is more than one factor” – continues Mattia Binotto – “As a team we focused on specific simulator activities and simulation work to try to reduce wear on the tires as much as possible, especially the front ones, and to do this we need to limit the sliding of the car on the front axle. It’s about working on the set-up, but not only that, given that the car is the same as the one from the start of the season with small changes, which, however small, have been positive and have led us in the right direction. And then there were some technical directives, like the one after Baku, which may have influenced not so much on us, but on others”.
Is Silverstone the beginning of a cycle of races with Ferrari as a protagonist? In Hungary we expect to see the team fight for the victory…
“Victory? No, I want a one-two finish” – And Mattia Binotto laughs exuberantly…
Maybe we will see an SF21 with less ups and downs over the season …
“We have to agree on the ups and downs, because today we can record the downs of other teams. If we look at Austria in just a few thousandths you were in Q3 or out. At Silverstone on a completely different track, much longer, with many corners, for two tenths it was fourth or eighth. So I think that small details can make big differences. Here was the debut of the new format: perhaps we arrived on the track with a good set-up already on Friday, a sign that there was a good preparation done at home that allowed us to have a car, relative to the others, better prepared in qualifying and in the race. The differences are very subtle”.
The most notable fact from this race is that Ferrari was ahead of Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes …
“The fact is that whoever is in front more easily manages to keep their position in free air and after all Norris had shown he can stay ahead of Bottas in Austria, but then when Charles or Carlos had a clear track they were as fast as McLaren”.
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