Charles Leclerc sixth and Carlos Sainz eighth. The balance of Ferrari in Bahrain is grey because the Maranello team had a gap of one minute from the leading Mercedes, but was able to fight against McLaren which confirmed itself in Sakhir as the third force on the grid.
Mattia Binotto, team principal of the Scuderia, prefers to look at the glass half full, underlining that there has been a leap in quality compared to last year, but there is no doubt that the hope is to see the SF21 grow alongside the team and the drivers.
The Ferrari was very poor in pit stops last year, but has started the new season in a positive way from this point of view, avoiding mistakes that hit a strong team like Mercedes…
“There is still a long way to go if we look at the best and our goal is to improve: today we will get some indications and look at the data”.
“We fought with McLaren although Charles lost his position and Carlos came close to Ricciardo, even though his race was compromised by the starting position. But he did a good solid race as he usually does and we are focused on what we can do at Imola”.
The driver line-up seems to be a positive asset for Ferrari…
“I am very happy with the two drivers because I can count on both: this is a good thing because it gives spirit and desire to grow together with the team. Today was just the first race: they will give us their feelings to understand the car and where to improve the pit stops and strategy. This is the goal of this season, where the car will not develop much because we are very focused on 2022. The important thing is that the developments are both useful and positive”.
What grade would you give the Scuderia?
“I would not like to rate the very first race as there will be twenty-two others. I think this car will give us some satisfaction, perhaps more than what we had today, but we have to work harder and better.”
Is Leclerc’s second row in qualifying to be considered a strong point?
“I wouldn’t call it that, but we knew our car both in terms of growth in the tunnel and in the simulator and during the testing session the important thing was that we found a good correlation between the track and the factory”.
“The car behaves on track as we expected and I must say that, compared to last year, this was the first step forward. This is the basis on which to build next year’s developments and car. At the level of working methodology and tools at Maranello we certainly made some improvements and, therefore, the qualifying was not a very surprising, but a good starting point. Of course we have to do even better.”
Carlos Sainz’s approach seemed positive…
“It was very positive. We chose Carlos because we knew he was very strong in the race and he proved it today as well. He is gaining confidence with the car and fitting in very well with the team. He is working very well with Charles.”
“So both of them did really good: knowing that you can count that one or the other will bring us satisfactions is a positive aspect, because there is a spirit to grow. Carlos and Charles did not fight each other, but we have to look at who is ahead of us. Only on the day we are in front of everyone will they fight each other”
Do you think that Mercedes and Red Bull who have started a great challenge between them can develop the 2021 single-seaters by removing resources from next year?
“I would be surprised if Red Bull and Mercedes spent a lot of time developing the 2021 cars because we already have very little time, especially the gallery for the 2022 car”.
What expectations are there this season?
“Red Bull and Mercedes today have the best cars and for us fighting for the podium becomes difficult unless something happens between them. We can certainly fight to be the third force in the Constructors’ championship ”.
What are the tracks where the SF21 could give some satisfaction to the Ferrari fans?
“We fought against McLaren today, while last year there was a big difference. We will have to calibrate ourselves on the circuits where maybe last year our car performed better to have a small advantage, but it is difficult to make a prediction on which tracks we will be a little better or they will be a little better: I think we will always be close. The fight will be close not only with McLaren, but also with Aston Martin, Alpine and AlphaTauri, who, apart from the race result, had a great weekend.”
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