2021 Ferrari F1 Team

[Schippke]

Just a thought, but could they be running the F1 cars under Ferrari's Corse Clienti Programme? Again, most likely not since they are running cars that are quite recent to the current F1 season, but they're one of the few teams that has the capacity to do so... or the only manufacture in the world that literally lets its clients drive their historic (and more recent) Formula 1 Cars.

[f1316]

The most logical explanation is their preparation for the new simulator.
They gather data as much they can.

Or, as I said, the 2 cars have similar behaviour and they train Sainz

True - and I understand the test with Sainz, MSC and Illott to an extent, since they could all do with mileage - but then the previous week Leclerc was running around too. Surely he doesn’t need it?

[Jolle]

Just a thought, but could they be running the F1 cars under Ferrari's Corse Clienti Programme? Again, most likely not since they are running cars that are quite recent to the current F1 season, but they're one of the few teams that has the capacity to do so... or the only manufacture in the world that literally lets its clients drive their historic (and more recent) Formula 1 Cars.

Well, every test etc done with old cars is done with the client program actually.

[JPower]

Looked pretty strong in practice, especially with the new floor. The medium runs looked about the same as RB/Merc,/McLaren.

I said this last race weekend but I'm hoping Sainz can put together a good Saturday. His individual sector times have been close to Charles at all of the tracks thus far, he just has to put it all together for Q3.

Would be great to get both cars through Q2 on mediums although if one midfield team goes to reds, everyone will have to.

[wowgr8]

He needs to worry about getting past Q2 first

I think McLaren and AlphaTauri will be better tomorrow but the SF21 is proving to be a really good car so far. 3 different circuits and it's 3rd/4th force at each, also 2/2 class B poles, and that's despite the engine handicap that still exists. All that's missing is a class B win or 1-2

Also interesting is how the car just works from the off, not like 2018 for example where there'd be issues on Friday that had to be turned around overnight

Qualifying on mediums will be tough. I don't think they'll take that risk because Sainz is still adapting and has had issues in both qualifying sessions this year

[JPower]

He needs to worry about getting past Q2 first

I think McLaren and AlphaTauri will be better tomorrow but the SF21 is proving to be a really good car so far. 3 different circuits and it's 3rd/4th force at each, also 2/2 class B poles, and that's despite the engine handicap that still exists. All that's missing is a class B win or 1-2

Also interesting is how the car just works from the off, not like 2018 for example where there'd be issues on Friday that had to be turned around overnight

Qualifying on mediums will be tough. I don't think they'll take that risk because Sainz is still adapting and has had issues in both qualifying sessions this year

That's what I'm thinking. I don't think any of the teams actually want to start on softs though. If RB/Merc get through on mediums and the rest of the field on softs, they'll lap the field in short order IMO. Will be interesting to see the strategy tomorrow.

[JPower]

Played out about as expected outside of Carlos taking the quali win in Q3. Charles is the only car in the midfield starting on mediums so he’ll have a good shot of placing well during the race.

All in all, not a bad weekend thus far. The SF21 is proving itself to be pretty quick.

[Vasconia]

Played out about as expected outside of Carlos taking the quali win in Q3. Charles is the only car in the midfield starting on mediums so he’ll have a good shot of placing well during the race.

All in all, not a bad weekend thus far. The SF21 is proving itself to be pretty quick.

The are showing a solid pace in all the races so far, which is a very good thing.

[f1316]

Well hopefully they didn’t use the new floor (which is crazy imo) because it means there’s a bit more to come when they do. Pace is decent but they were obviously much closer in quali to the ultimate pace in the first two races, so I can’t say I think it was a fantastic quali.

That said, it’s still all about next year really and so the key point is it correlation is good. Ferrari needs to be at least competing for wins and although this is better than last year, I don’t think the fourth fastest car or the sixth fastest car is really an important distinction tbh.

[Andres125sx]

Well hopefully they didn’t use the new floor (which is crazy imo) because it means there’s a bit more to come when they do. Pace is decent but they were obviously much closer in quali to the ultimate pace in the first two races, so I can’t say I think it was a fantastic quali.

That said, it’s still all about next year really and so the key point is it correlation is good. Ferrari needs to be at least competing for wins and although this is better than last year, I don’t think the fourth fastest car or the sixth fastest car is really an important distinction tbh.

Marc Gene confirmed they´re not using the new floor as they only have one unit, so if floor is damaged there´s no spare, would have to switch back to old spec and balance would be affected (they´d need to adjust the whole car again)

[LM10]

The qualifying was a bit of an odd one for everyone. Last year it was hard to switch on the tyres, too. This time some strong wind as well.

I think it’s a positive that Ferrari managed to qualify where they did even though they didn’t use the new floor. The gap to pole is bigger than last year and bigger than I would’ve expected, but then again even RedBull is further back from pole than they were last year. Seems like Mercedes did the best job with the tyres.

Overall I’m happy with Ferrari’s progress. I want them to make clear their tools work. That’s the best possible way to prepare for next year.
Oh, and really happy with the performance of Sainz as well.

[f1316]

Well hopefully they didn’t use the new floor (which is crazy imo) because it means there’s a bit more to come when they do. Pace is decent but they were obviously much closer in quali to the ultimate pace in the first two races, so I can’t say I think it was a fantastic quali.

That said, it’s still all about next year really and so the key point is it correlation is good. Ferrari needs to be at least competing for wins and although this is better than last year, I don’t think the fourth fastest car or the sixth fastest car is really an important distinction tbh.

Marc Gene confirmed they´re not using the new floor as they only have one unit, so if floor is damaged there´s no spare, would have to switch back to old spec and balance would be affected (they´d need to adjust the whole car again)

Fair enough (and thanks for the info!) - given the pace, it’s good to know there’s a little more in hand that went unused - but it still seems like an odd choice to me. How often does a floor get damaged? Maybe 2 or 3 times out of 10? Why leave pace on the table when it’s just sitting right there?

I guess their logic is, given they’re close to their competitors anyway - and behind the front runners regardless - no point in taking risks. I’d have thought they might think the opposite though: given they’re not in any crucial championship fight, might as well try to maximise everything because what’s the worst that could happen? If they don’t score with one car, it doesn’t seem the end of the world in their current situation, whereas we saw last year that being at the front of the midfield can occasionally mean you pick up a great result.

In any case, with the different tyre strategies for each driver they could potentially do something vaguely interesting, so let’s see. Again, the biggest plus point seems to be that the new floor they brought actually worked as expected, so that’s encouraging for all development.

[wowgr8]

The floor is meant to be a test floor. And leaving performance on the table is nothing new, all teams do it, we know teams plan upgrades months in advance, why don't they all fast track their updates and bring them to the next race? It doesn't work like that

[JPower]

Quick reaction:

That was a bad race for Ferrari. Finished behind McLaren and Alpine in points. They should've stuck Sainz on hards. His tires were done 10 laps before the finish line. It didn't even make sense considering he was first to pit in the group and they knew Leclerc wasn't having a great time on them.

[wowgr8]

The fact Ferrari are trailing McLaren by 11 points in the championship is very very worrying considering Ricciardos marked underperformance. I came into this weekend optimistic but I'm leaving it thinking I can't see any area in which the SF21 is better than the McLaren. Once Ricciardo gets up to speed you bet he'll be at least level with Norris or higher than him. If Ferrari somehow manage to get 3rd in the championship it will he a heist job

Leclerc is driving really really well though, he and Norris are midfield standouts this year. I'm also worried about reliability since the Merc PU is almost bulletproof and Ferrari have doubts over reliability. It's reasonable to expect maybe 3 or 4 failures between both cars through the year