The Ferrari seen in the race at Paul Ricard looked like that of 2020. As if the SF21 had been deployed in qualifying and the SF2000 in the race. On Saturday the Maranello team was confirmed as third force in the Constructors’ World Championship, while on Sunday it collapsed to be seventh, with Carlos Sainz 11th at the finish line and Charles Leclerc 16th and also lapped.
McLaren at Castellet took advantage of this to regain third place among the teams with a 14-point advantage over the Scuderia. The key to the Grand Prix at the Paul Ricard circuit was that Ferrari never got the tires working…
“I don’t have much more to add. The race for us was very hard and difficult. We weren’t able to get the tires to work as well as we should. And I think our performance has been closely linked to the tires, to the way we make them work.” – Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto said, in an interview for Motorsport Italy after the race.
“In this way it is difficult. It’s bad to be outside the points, it hadn’t happened for a long time. I don’t think it really reflects the potential of the car itself, but there is no doubt that there is something we have to learn and tackle, if not for the foreseeable future, certainly for what it is in the medium and long term ”.
In France, tire pressure and checks have changed …
“I don’t think they had any impact, if I look at the requirements only the rear pressures were raised, but we had the main problem on the front. So as far as the preparations for the race are concerned, nothing has changed. So the answer is a clear no ”.
After a few laps Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were having to deal with a sliding car with strong understeer. In the corners that led onto the straights (6, 9 and 15) the Ferrari seemed in serious difficulty, with a speed of 18/20 km / h less than the competition, so clreary on the straight the Reds showed serious shortcomings …
“We expected not to be where we were on Saturday, after all the track was slower and with less grip, perhaps due to the morning rain, which made the asphalt green. Having less grip we started to slide, creating the graining. And our car fared suffered more than others ”.
This week we are back on track with the Styrian GP at the Red Bull Ring: can things change?
“Austria is a different circuit, on the high ground. It is a track where the differences in qualifying are very small. I think that as a type of track it is better suited for us than the Paul Ricard ”.
“I don’t want to say that we will be as competitive as in Monaco or Baku, but we think we will do a better performance than we did in France, depending also on the expected weather conditions, because it may be raining. In any case it will still be hot so there will be many variables that we will have to take into account. But first we need to understand what happened yesterday, because if we don’t understand it well, there is a clear risk of the same problem happening again, but at least on paper the situation should be better”.
Looking at the calendar, where will Ferrari be able to fight back to be third force?
“Already from Austria. The track on paper should be more favorable to the characteristics of our car, but we will have to understand what happened in France and what the weather conditions will be. We are somehow counting on the two races in Austria. Then, if we look at the calendar before the summer break, England could be difficult, while Hungary should be good for us again.”
Will you still bring some technical updates, even though the technicians are now all busy focusing on the 2022 car?
“Yes, we will still bring some little updates”.
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