While Ferrari was reeling after its worst Formula 1 season in 40 years, 2021 was a year that served Maranello to renew itself and focus on the new regulations with a quite different vision.
With the change in technical rules coming into force in 2022 and the limited development allowed throughout 2021, the most successful team in the history of the category was able to spend much of its time investigating how to recover from the sixth place it achieved in 2020. .
The result of this has been a season in which Ferrari has made huge strides in almost every aspect. The Italian team went from fighting in the middle-low area of the grid to being assiduously close to the podiums and ending up achieving third position in the constructors’ championship, adding 192.5 points , in addition to their two surprising pole positions.
Its drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fifth and seventh respectively and made sure to score points with the two cars in 17 of the 22 races. The only grand prix in which Ferrari was left without adding was in France, due to problems with the management of its tires during the test.
However, the statistics that show that those from Maranello are recovering go beyond the points. Regardless of the lack of pace that weighed down Ferrari in 2020, race management was one of its weak points.
Improvement in Ferrari pit stops in the 2021 Formula 1 season
The team even admitted last December that its pit stops were “far from the best”, and had been hampered by a lug nut problem all season.
In 2020, only 48% of Ferrari’s pit stops were less than three seconds (a fairly reliable metric to check if a stop is good), and they finished ninth compared to the rest of the teams in the time spent changing tires .
A campaign later, this figure increased to 73% , placing Ferrari in third place on the grid. The Italian team also improved its average stopping time, from 2.72 seconds to 2.55.
“We have made a fairly large program to turn things around, both in the car, because there are some technical elements that we see that have given results, such as in the mechanics and the methodology of their training,” said the Ferrari sports director, Laurent Meckies .
“Now, based on the statistics, we are third, and for mistakes we are not third in the world championship. I think it is a good representation of how work leads to better performances, and that applies in pit stops, tire management , race strategy, and more.”
Although Ferrari has not been fighting for wins or the championship, the team focused on its fight with McLaren to be the best of the rest. The two teams were very even until the end of the year, when the Italians proved to be superior and added 47.5 points more.
“It is key that in such a close battle, when it comes to points, your execution has to be top notch. This year there have been no excuses, and the fact that the car was not as quick as we wanted made us take this fight as if outside the World Cup,” acknowledged Mekies.
The need to improve at pit stops was something that Sainz noted on his arrival from McLaren, as he told Motorsport.com: “For me, this was something very important. When I came to the team at the beginning of the season, I felt that we had to progress in the way of doing the strategy and the management of the tyres, the first races were difficult in that sense”.
“I noticed a big step forward throughout the year in that aspect, the car was running a bit better but not more than a tenth. You see how consistent we are now in managing the races and it’s a different story from the beginning of the year. Sainz said.
The improvement in the movements made during the race became evident with the great reliability of those in red during 2021. The team went from six retirements last season to just one, not counting that Leclerc did not start in Monaco, and recorded more appointments in points than any other manufacturer.
Ferrari race pace increase in the 2021 Formula 1 season
But it is in the raw pace of the single-seaters that they needed to make a bigger step after the chaotic 2020. Ferrari not only managed it, they were third, closing the gap with Red Bull and Mercedes.
According to statistics, those from Maranello went from being 1.34 seconds behind Mercedes in 2020 to 0.64 . This gap was as wide as four tenths early in the season, gradually growing as the year progressed.
“We are aware that we have not caught up with the best, and that 0.6 seconds is still a long distance,” boss Mattia Binotto said. “But the goal was to close the gap to 2020, and to be honest, it was impossible to close that gap.”
Ferrari’s improvement in race pace was minor, but showed progress. The average gap to Mercedes was lowered from 1.1 seconds to 0.8, although Binotto suggests “it’s still a significant gap”, pointing to the fact that they had not developed their car in 2021.
“That shows we haven’t done much work on the car, whereas others have. I think in pure design and development terms, since the winter, it’s gone from 1.3 to 0.4 seconds.
“Throughout the year, the gap increases because we have focused on 2022, except for the power unit. This relates to the statistics, and it shows that we are closing the gap with our rivals,” Binotto said.
All this is a hopeful reading for Ferrari, which is preparing for the new 2022 regulations. The team has shown its recovery this season by improving strategies, changing tires and car design, as well as having one of the most consistent pairings on the grid.
The challenge for those from Maranello will be to unite everything and make the most of the new rules to stand up to Mercedes and Red Bull.
