Ferrari turns the page and now focused on the second round of the triple-Header, which takes place at Interlagos next weekend, with the intention of redeeming a rather disappointing performance in Mexico City, as the SF21 cars finished one lap behind the race winner and could not catch the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly in the fight for fourth place.
Still, at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, Scuderia Ferrari capitalized on McLaren’s bad day, taking home a 17.5-point advantage in the Constructors’ classification which earned the SF21 the role of third force in the championship. Ferrari, therefore, remains in the fight for its target in this final parte of the 2021 Formula One season and in Brazil it plans to consolidate an advantage that can become more substantial.
Mattia Binotto, this time, does not venture into predictions …
“It’s true, I never get the predictions right. In Brazil we will have to confirm the lead over McLaren by trying to gain more points: we must consolidate this third place which is important for us, being the goal we have set for this end of the season.”
While the Ferrari performance did not live up to expectations and the SF21 did not find the right set-up to exploit the potential of the tires that were not in the right window of operation except for short moments, some positive data also emerged from the Mexican weekend regarding the team led on track by Laurent Mekies, as Team Principal Mattia Binotto remained in Maranello to follow the development of the 2022 F1 car:
“In fact, the team result was positive – continues Mattia Binotto – starting with the pit stops that finally went well, continuing with the strategy and collaboration between the drivers which was good because we had divided the strategy: one driver stopped early and the other went long way to try everything to catch Gasly. We asked Charles to let Carlos pass and then we repositioned them as they were before. The two worked with the right spirit, after we talked about it in the morning. In general the team worked well ”.
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The exchange of positions between the driver has taken place without wasting time, in a mutual collaboration that demonstrates the harmony and esteem between Charles and Carlos:
“It was easy thanks to the fact that we talked about it transparently on Sunday morning because there is a positive atmosphere within the team. It was a scenario that we had evaluated and we all shared it together, so we simply implemented it “.
At Interlagos the target is to increase the lead over McLaren …
“If we look at the last few races we have always gained points because we were faster than them and this gives me hope also looking at the end of the season. It won’t be easy because we know that making a mistake, as McLaren may have done on Sunday, is enough to lose a lot of points. We need to stay focused, but there is no doubt that in the last few races we have had a performance advantage over McLaren … “.
The Brazilian track is high, but the thin air has a lesser impact than Mexico City, given that Interlagos is 786 meters above sea level, compared to the 2,200 meters of the last Grand Prix: there is only a reduction in 17% of the air density for which the aerodynamic configurations will be those of medium load.
It will be interesting to find out if the SF21 will be more and more a “laboratory” in view of 2022: remember that the red car is racing with the hybrid system that will be part of what we will see next year on the “Superfast” engine, as well as the fuel and oil pumps, while in Mexico we saw Ferrari experimenting with the new brake discs equipped with materials that will be used by Brembo next year. So we should not be surprised if we see some other details or elements put to the test of the track in these last few races.
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