A single stop, Charles Leclerc who starts fifth confirming this position at the checkered flag and Carlos Sainz who “sinks” in the final lap with hard tires due to high degradation, problems that forced the Spaniard to surrender against compatriot Fernando Alonso, sixth ahead of the driver of the Maranello stable. “Surprising to beat a Ferrari”, commented Alonso at the end of the race, who never misses the opportunity to take small a revenge against the Prancing Horse. On balance, however, what appears to be a disappointing race where Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri beat the SF21s both in qualifying and in the race, remains a Grand Prix in which Ferrari regained third place in the Constructors’ Standings against McLaren. Now the team led by Mattia Binotto is third with 11.5 points ahead of the Woking team.
Corriere della Sera underlines the fact that Ferrari is forced to play in defense in the run-up to the podium of the team ranking, even if on the eve of Zandvoort the hopes were different: “The conditions seemed very different, on the 14 corners of Zandvoort the SF21 seemed to be able to express much more. It was an illusion, like Sainz’s ability to keep sixth. Alonso overtook him at the end. With a Ferrari like this, there is little to be happy for Monza, an engine track. This is the potential offered by the car, that pays for the limits of the 2020 one from which it derives, the team has chosen hyper-conservative strategies to maintain the advantage over McLaren. Like the decision to use hard tires. Defense to the bitter end, hoping to change form in 2022”.
“If it hadn’t been for Alonso’s overtaking Sainz in the final lap, for Ferrari it would have been like a long race behind the Safety Car – we read in the columns of La Gazzetta dello Sport – fifth and seventh places are results that allowed Ferrari to overtake McLaren with great momentum, with Charles Leclerc overtaking Carlos Sainz in the drivers’ standings, as the two exchanged sixth and seventh places”.
The prospect of a home race in Monza for Ferrari in the role of supporting actor is underlined by La Stampa: “In the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari, barring surprises (in 2020, the success went to Gasly with the AlphaTauri of Faenza ) will not be the protagonist. Ferrari is chasing two positions in the points zone like yesterday, better than 2020, but nothing to do with Charles Leclerc’s triumph in 2019. The rebirth is postponed to next year for known reasons: 2021 is a year of transition “.
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