More points, more pole positions, more podium places: Ferrari left its horror year 2020 behind and celebrated something like a resurrection in Formula 1 in the past season. Impressive figures underline the development of the Scuderia.
After the worst Formula 1 season in 40 years, 2021 was a year of rebuilding and planning for the future for Ferrari. With the big technical changes on the horizon for 2022 and limited development in the current year, Ferrari was able to focus on getting the basics back on track.
The result is a season in which Ferrari has made impressive progress in almost every area. The team climbed from sixth to third place and scored 192.5 points more than last year, as well as two pole positions and five podium positions.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fifth and seventh in the drivers’ standings and both cars scored points in 17 of 22 races. The only race without points was in France when they fell far behind due to tire problems.
But the numbers that show Ferrari’s way back to the top go beyond these fundamental values.
Significantly better pit stops at Ferrari
Regardless of the lack of pace in 2020, the Scuderia’s great weakness was the execution of the races. The team even admitted last December that the pit stops were “far from the best” and were hampered by a problem with the wheel nuts.
- In 2020, only 48 percent of Ferrari’s pit stops were less than three seconds (which the teams see as a measure of a good, constant pit stop), making them only the ninth-best of ten teams.
- In 2021 the number rose to 73 percent, which makes third place in the field. In addition, the racing team has reduced its average pit stop time from 2.72 seconds to 2.55 seconds.
“We ran a pretty extensive program of trying to turn things around – both with the car because there are some technical elements that we drive that have brought results, and with the guys with the training and methodology that we apply, “says Ferrari sports director Laurent Mekies.
“Today we’re third on the criteria, and not accidentally we’re third on points either. I think that’s a good example of how working behind the scenes leads to better execution, and that goes for pit stops, that goes for tire management, that applies to the racing strategy, that applies to many things, “said Mekies.
Personal World Cup duel with McLaren
And although Ferrari didn’t fight for wins or the championship this year, the duel with McLaren for third place was Ferrari’s personal title fight. Over the year, both were tied, but a strong end to the season gave the Reds a lead of 47.5 points and third place.
“It is important that the execution in such a tight championship fight where points are at stake is at the highest level,” said Mekies. “This year wasn’t an excuse. And that’s why, even if the car wasn’t as fast as we would have liked, we took up the fight as if it were about the world championship.”
Carlos Sainz also noticed that Ferrari had to improve its racing performance after moving from McLaren. They had used their weak phase to improve their work without the pressure at the very front.
“It was a very big deal for me,” said Sainz to ‘Motorsport-Total.com’. “When I joined the team at the beginning of the season I really felt that we had to make progress in the way we run the race in terms of strategy and tire management. The first few races were very difficult in that regard. “
“I had the feeling that we made great progress over the course of the season. The car might have run a little better, but no more than a tenth better than at the beginning of the season. You can see how consistent we are now in terms of racing, and that’s a different story than at the beginning, “praised the Spaniard.
More top 10 spots than anyone else
The improved racing design could also be seen in better reliability. If there were six retirements in 2020, there was only one in 2021 – plus Leclerc’s waiver after his qualifying crash in Monaco. In addition, they got more top 10 placements than any other team.
But where Ferrari really had to make progress after the disastrous 2020 season was pure pace. The Scuderia was not only able to compete with the teams in the front midfield, but also narrowed the gap to Mercedes.
According to Ferrari data, the average qualifying gap has decreased from 1.34 seconds to 0.64 seconds. At the beginning of the season it was only 0.4 seconds, but increased again as the season progressed.
“We know that we have not yet closed the gap to the best, and 0.6 seconds is still a lot,” says team principal Mattia Binotto. “But the goal was to narrow the gap. Of course, we knew the situation in 2020 very well, and realistically it was impossible to close the gap.”
Things are looking up for Ferrari in Formula 1
Ferrari’s gains in race pace were smaller but still showed signs of good progress: the average gap to Mercedes fell from 1.1 to 0.8 seconds. For Binotto this is “still a big deficit”, but he emphasizes that Ferrari didn’t really develop its car over the course of the season and instead focused on 2022.
“That shows that we didn’t really develop our car while others may have,” says Binotto. “As the season progresses, the gap increases because we have fully concentrated on the year 2022, with the exception of the power unit. That correlates with these figures. The figures again show that we are reducing the gap to our competitors.”
All of this gives Ferrari courage in the face of the new 2022 regulations. The team has shown its strength and made progress over the winter, improved its performance and you have one of the strongest driver pairings.
The challenge for Ferrari is now to put everything together this winter so that you can benefit from the new rules and attack Mercedes and Red Bull again.
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