Ahead of the race which took place last weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodreguez, (one of the less power sensitive circuits on the Formula 1 calendar), Scuderia Ferrari was confident the SF21 car could be slightly closer to Mercedes and Red Bull in the Mexican Grand Prix. Unfortunately this was not the case, as the Maranello team’s gap to the top two teams grew to “nine tenths”, which is disappointing, the Italian side’s Team Principal Mattia Binotto admitted.
Despite the fact that Scuderia Ferrari finished with both cars in the points at the Mexican Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc P5 just ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz, the SF21 car was far from the fight for any chance of a podium finish. So much so that the Maranello team was also beaten on the day by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, with Frenchman crossing the line almost 20 seconds ahead, despite the fact that Ferrari had both Charles and Carlos behind him and attempted two different strategies to overtake the AlphaTauri.
While the result still remains positive given the fact that Ferrari is now third in the Constructors’ Championship with four races to go until the end of the season, the pace and performance was not what Mattia Binotto wanted to see at this stage. The Italian had expected, with engine power out of the mix, for Ferrari’s SF21 to be closer to the Red Bull and Mercedes cars but instead the gap grew.
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“If I look at the last races, we had a pace which was a lot closer to the top teams – half a second, while [in Mexico] it was something like nine tenths of a second. We were a bit behind. And honestly, I was hoping coming to Mexico – where we know that the power unit counts less, it’s a circuit where it’s less power sensitive – to have a better overall relative performance, which has not been the case. We struggled a bit on performance in the qualy, we struggled as well compared to the best cars [in the race]. And I think the fact that Gasly has been ahead of us is another sign. So certainly he did very well. So well done to Gasly and AlphaTauri. But I was at least hoping to finish higher than the AlphaTauri and closer to the best.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
But while Ferrari did not have the pace they wanted at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodreguez, the Maranello team was still stronger tham its main rival McLaren and had a better overall weekend. Ferrari claimed a double points-haul where McLaren was able to score only one point, which means that the Italian side has now leapfrogged the Mercedes-powered team for third place in the Constructors’ standings, taking a 13.5 point lead.
“Overall, it has been a great team result. We are in third position now, 13.5 points ahead of McLaren with four races to go. So I think it’s still a very tight battle. But at the moment we are third with 13.5 points which are not negligible. Certainly McLaren has struggled as well. Let’s see now in Brazil, but hopefully we may consolidate what we’ve seen today. It’s difficult to judge, I was hoping to be quicker in Mexico, it has not been the case. So I think that my forecast will be wrong, whatever I will do! But if I look at the last races, at least, we have always been ahead of them. Since we introduced the new power unit, we think we’ve got some little advantage in performance, which is very useful at that stage of the season.” – Mattia Binotto concluded.
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