Formula 1 teams have faced some unprecedented times over the past 12 months, as the sport has had to react quickly to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. As well as a dramatically revamped calendar and new protocols, the outbreak prompted a delay to all-new regulations originally planned for 2021, plus a carry over of the 2020 chassis in to this season.
But the pandemic has also prompted a bizarre quirk for teams too when it comes to giving designations to their chassis.
We have already seen Alfa Romeo announce that, as a successor to last year’s C39, this year’s car will be the C41.
The situation of numerical order being thrown out the window is true at Ferrari too, because its long-running new car project number system has suffered a similar fate with a jump in numbers.
Ferrari has long given each year’s car a project number as well as an official chassis name. Last year’s SF1000, for example, was characterised with the project number 671 while it was being created at the team’s Maranello base. Logic would suggest, therefore, that the SF21, which is set to be revealed ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain, will be the 672.
However, that will not be the case – even though the car will feature a lot of carry over components as a result of the chassis freeze rules that were introduced as an emergency cost-saving measure.
Instead, the car’s project number has been officially designated as the 673.
The reason for the jump at both Ferrari and Sauber is simple: for during the early stages of 2020 when the world was a much more normal place, both teams had already begun work on what was going to be the all-new 2021 car.
At Ferrari, its ground effect machine, which will herald the start of an era that F1 hopes will improve the racing dramatically, had already been given the 672 project number designation. Sauber had handed its original 2021 car the C40 tag.
When the FIA delayed the introduction of the new rules until 2022, and banned teams from doing much work on them, both teams had to park their new projects for a bit.
However, with teams now again free to do as much development as they want, both teams are up and running again with both their 2021 and 2022 challengers – albeit with out of order titles.
Alfa Romeo is to launch its C41 in Warsaw next month, while Ferrari looks set to wait a little bit longer.
The Ferrari 673 (SF21) will maintain the main chassis of the SF1000, but will feature some limited updates the Italian team has been able to do under F1’s token system.
It will feature a revised rear end, not only because of the new floor rules, but also for the introduction of a new transmission. A new narrow gearbox will allow the rear suspension to be redesigned and help ease some of the rear end nervousness that hindered Ferrari’s drivers last year.
The SF21 will also feature a brand new engine that Ferrari hopes will address the power deficit that it suffered from in 2020.
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