Fourth and fifth place in 2019, seventh in 2020 with the technical knockout of Charles Leclerc, betrayed by the power unit, then restarted. The last two editions of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona were not memorable for Ferrari, which in 2018 made a strategic mistake after a Safety Car period, delivering the podium in the hands of Max Verstappen, third behind the Mercedes, with a stop which was in fact fatal for Sebastian Vettel, heroic instead in 2017 to duel with the Mercedes surrendering only to the excessive power of the W08 engine on the occasion of Lewis Hamilton’s overtake on the Ferrari driver, a moment in which the German on radio underlined “I had no chance, he passed me like a train.”
The Scuderia from Maranello arrives in Barcelona after the disappointment of Portimao. After Saturday’s qualifying, in fact, the two reds of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc started in front of the McLarens of Lando Norris and, above all, of Daniel Ricciardo, who was unexpectedly eliminated in Q1. At the checkered flag, however, Norris was once again the best of the ‘others’ behind Mercedes and Red Bull, with Ricciardo in the points unlike Carlos Sainz, who slipped up to eleventh position for what was strategically defined by the team principal of Ferrari Mattia Binotto “an excess of ambition” .
The Spaniard will try to redeem himself immediately on his home track, a track on which he has always scored points since racing in F1 with Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren. In Portimao for the first time Carlos Sainz beat Charles Leclerc in qualifying and Montmelò is the ideal location fro Carlos to try again. Compared to 2020, Ferrari can count on a decidedly more performing power unit, but what could really make the difference are the aspects in which the SF21 can prove to be more effective than the SF90 of 2019. The project two years ago had great aerodynamic efficiency, but generated little load. In the first sector Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were very fast, in the second they kept pace, but in the third the performance of the Ferraris collapsed vertically.
The track features an all-new Turn 10 that most likely would have been more popular with the SF90, but looking at the upcoming weekend, the men in red know they have what it takes to do well in every sector of the Catalan circuit. As underlined by today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport in an analysis by Paolo Filisetti, the SF21 significantly improved the aerodynamic load generated by the car body and the new rear suspension made the car less sensitive. These factors should redeem 2019 in particular in the third sector, while the first three races have already given abundant proof that the 2021 engine is distantly related – this time in a positive way – to that of last season. The fight behind Mercedes and Red Bull will be, as always, on the edge of thousandths, but Ferrari has what it takes to win the fifht with McLaren for the first time in this championship.
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