If Mercedes’ return to victory with Lewis Hamilton was the news that had the most impact on the drivers’ championship standings, taking into account Max Verstappen’s zero points as a result of the crash on the first lap of the British GP, there is no doubt that the surprise of Silverstone was Ferrari, who was able to fight for success with Charles Leclerc for 50 of the 52 scheduled laps.
Once the evets of the first lap took place, the Monegasque had the ability to take the race lead and from the restart after the red flag and was able to impose a strong pace with the SF21 which kept him in command until two laps from the end. Sure, Lewis Hamilton had to serve the 10-second penalty, to pay the relative blame for the crash with Verstappen, but Ferrari has confirmed that it is no longer a Cinderella. On the contrary, the Maranello team seems increasingly willing to return as a top team, countering McLaren’s role as third force in the Constructors’ championship.
If Charles Leclerc was imperious in keeping up with Lewis’ W12 when he had yellow tires (in the first stint), the Monegasque had to work harder when, after the pit stop, he switched to white tires (the harder compound C1s.)
From the analysis of the telemetry carried out by Matteo Bobbi’s staff it emerges unequivocally that the reunification of the black arrow with the red car was not in doubt: the question was only in how long. Charles Leclerc resisted up to two laps from the checkered flag, giving a taste of his great qualities, before being inexorably passed into Copse by a Hamilton who was unstoppable towards success number 99.
With the white tyres, Mercedes highlighted a gap on the fastest lap of 870 thousandths on the Ferrari, a gap that was not so conspicuous with the yellow ones. The aspect that emerges from the graph is that the Reds suffered more in the first sector of the track, adding a gap of almost three tenths per lap which gradually decreased in the second and third sectors.
First of all, it must be pointed out that Hamilton was able to benefit from a new aerodynamic package that allowed him to rival again the Red Bull RB16B which in the five GPs preceding the English one had given the impression of being clearly superior to the car of Brackley.
Analyzing the turns of the graphs it emerges that Mercedes superiority has emerged everywhere, but only with the world champion, because Valtteri Bottas remained behind the Ferrari driver. The sinusoidal trend of the lines is similar. With the SF21 always a hair below the W12, except in two places, in the Complex at the Village and The Loop and then before the last Vale chicane.
In particular, thanks to the new floor that replaced the one with the “waves”, the black arrow seems to be able to produce downforce with the car body, being able to go back to unloading the wings a little, enhancing the qualities of the F1 M12 E Performance power unit. . The Brixworth engine makes a clear difference in the straights, while the 065/6 seems to defend itself very well in the first acceleration phase, showing the traction qualities of the SF21.
The response is clear: Ferrari is not yet able to break the hegemony of Mercedes (and Red Bull), but on tracks congenial to the Red team such as the Hungaroring, it can make life difficult for the two contenders for the world championship, because the power unit counts less and the traction qualities exiting the corners are enhanced, which are not as slow as in Monte Carlo, because the average speed in Budapest is decidedly higher than in the Principality while remaining a stop-and-go track.
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