They worked hard during the winter and then in the first two races of the 2021 Formula 1 season, to get Ferrari off on the right foot. And the results are visible. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are battling McLaren-Mercedes for third place in the championship, and given the troubles encountered by the second drivers of Mercedes and Red Bull-Honda, the top two positions in the constructors’ standings don’t even seem that far off. The Monegasque and the Spaniard, a rookie on the red, finished the races in Bahrain and Imola always scoring points; the only other driver line-up to have achieved this result is that of the Woking team with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. It must be remembered that in 2020 the teams always in the points with both cars in the first two GPs were once again Mercedes and McLaren.
“Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are leading the standings. That of the F1 driver line-ups. After the 12 points scored in Bahrain (sixth and eighth place), we now add 22 accumulated in Imola (fourth and fifth place) for an overall total that is good enough for fourth place in the 2021 Constructor Standings at the moment. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have managed four useful results out of four participations and are separated in the standings by only 6 points. Charles is fourth with 20, Carlos sixth with 14. A parallel progression that does not correspond to what is happening elsewhere, including Mercedes and Red Bull, where the distances between teammates are much wider. Hamilton 44 points against Bottas’ 16; Verstappen 43 points against Perez’s 10, a situation that signals a double imbalance and a double dispersion, considering the quality of the cars. In McLaren Norris, always a protagonist at the start of the season, has accumulated 27 points in two races. They help take the team to third place overall, with a gap on the teammate far greater than the one which separates the two boys in red: 13 points.” – analyzes the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
It should be noted that Carlos Sainz is already at a good level of understanding of Ferrari, and for now there is no way that he has the famous ‘regret’ that was talked about at the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season: Daniel Ricciardo, a substitute in McLaren, is not showing a better performance. In fact, they are level on points, with the Spaniard in front having obtained a 5th place as the best result. “Sainz struggled in Imola at the start of the race, with four slips off the track. All while he was behind due to a difficult qualifying that had excluded him from Q3. However, once he managed to find the pace, the race got more and more solid, and Carlos got behind Charles. After all, he is known to be someone who makes few mistakes, almost none. Don’t worry: the mistakes made in the Emilia-Romagna GP are only a consequence of a combination of wet weather and inexperience. After all, it is difficult for everyone to adapt to a new car. Just look at the championship standings. The drivers who have arrived in new teams are all facing the same difficulties.” – wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport.
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