With just six races until the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season, Scuderia Ferrari are confident the power unit upgrade which was introduced over the last two rounds could play a major role in the close battle with McLaren for a place behind Mercedes and Red Bull in the Formula 1 Constructor Standings.
Despite the fact that the English side still holds third place and has been doing so for much of the championship so far, the Maranello team has cut the disadvantage by ten points ahead of the United States Grand Prix this weekend, leaving the two rival teams separated by just 7.5 in this final six rounds of the season.
Carlos Sainz Jnr received Ferrari’s power unit upgrade two weeks ago in the Turkish Grand Prix, after Charles Leclerc ran it at Sochi Autodrom:
“We were quicker than McLaren [at Istanbul]. In Sochi they were quicker than us. So I still believe it’s going to be up and down until the end of the year. What this engine should give us, I think, is the possibility during the circuits that we are behind – there will be for sure a few circuits that we behind – to be a bit closer to them and in the circuits that we are in front to be maybe a bit further up.” – Carlos Sainz explained.
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Third place in the Constructor Standings is important for the Maranello team, but Scuderia Ferrari brought forward the introduction of the upgrade mostly to be able to gain more time to prepare ahead of the freeze on power unit development which begins in 2022:
“This is what we were looking for since the upgrade was pushed forward and what we hope is going to give us that little edge to try and make the fight a bit more complicated for them. We managed to cut 10 points on them which for the points that we are fighting is quite a big cut. So if we keep fighting, six races to go, I think anything can happen.” – the Spanish driver added.
A few days ago, Team principal Mattia Binotto admitted that Ferrari had taken a calculated risk by introducing the upgrade earlier than originally planned.
“The first object is try to increase our experience in the view of 2022. And that’s why we are introducing it as soon as possible, trying to rush in terms of development, taking some risk as well. But it’s all a risk assessment because obviously for us it’s key to get mileage on-track and do our own experience before 2022 where the power unit will be frozen. And really for us that was the key and the reason of it.” – he explained.
The upgrade gives Ferrari a “small advantage”, Mattia Binotto confirmed, while also stating that “it is track-dependent. It’s not only pure ICE [internal combustion engine] power, it’s energy recovery so it’s a bit complex. But certainly it’s giving us an advantage and as the drivers said in overtaking, if I look as well as the quali with Charles he was qualifying with the fourth lap time but if I look behind him I think it was very close. I’m pretty sure that’s a couple of positions would have been lost without that specification.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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