Ferrari may definitely not be among the frontrunners for the Constructor championship in 2021, but today they are a team that look starkly different from the wilting pressures of 2020, a year where they didn’t win anything, save Charles Leclerc’s best performance at the Spielberg-bound Austrian Grand Prix. A P2 is all that the Mattia Binotto-led team went on to bag in a year where the biggest gains were, without much surprise, Mercedes and Red Bull’s.
In the same car where the 23-year-old Monegasque was seen pushing the SF 90 to its very limit, a legend of the sport, a former four-time world champion, in Sebastian Vettel, was seen struggling.
If there was ever a season both bitter in driver experience and results achieved, since 2014, then it was last year. Luckily, all of that has changed with Leclerc being the unchanged factor. With the induction of F1’s smooth operator, Carlos Sainz Jr., the Spaniard going as far as enjoying a scant lead over the other more experienced Ferrari driver, the Scuderia stable isn’t doing that bad.
Source: Formula1.com
With two poles- both of which came at the expense of Charles Leclerc, who also happened to win his maiden F1 race with the Scuderia (Italy, 2019), and two podiums, earned at the back of Sainz’ dominant run at Monaco and Hungary, the latter luck-assisted, Ferrari are enjoying a moment of reprieve of sorts.
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And while one can’t really say whether, toward the end of the season, they will be able to get the hang of McLaren in the fight to finish up north what one cay say- and quite certainly so- is that 2021 hasn’t been a fairytale of sorts for the Maranello-based outfit.
So how is that? What has happened?
Well, believe it nor not, but thus far, from the eleven Grands Prix to have been conducted, Ferrari have actually suffered a huge cost in the current championship. These, as some may call it, are damaging to the team’s reserves.
In a latest report published on famous auto portal car and bike, the following information came to light that explained the woes currently being faced by the leading marquee in Formula 1:
Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto has revealed an overall $2.92 million cost that the team has had to incur over the damage its cars have sustained in the first 10 races of the 2021 F1 season. This is a critical element as there is a $145 million budget cap for the teams and top teams like Ferrari are used to spend upwards of $300 million which means they are running right at the edge of the budget.
“If I look at the damage we had so far since the very first race we had in Bahrain up to the last race in Hungary, if I count all damages we have on track, it’s more than 2.5 million Euros. That’s showing how significant they are, and it’s only half of the season,” said the Swiss-Italian engineer.”
The bespectacled Ferrari team principal would further add, “These are overall damages. Sometimes we can damage ourselves. We’ve got some contingency in our final budget gap which I think we need to have because you never know the surprises we have from now to the end and crashes and damage!”
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll rammed into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which led to both drivers retiring from the race. The other notable exists from the action-packed contest were Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Nikita Mazepin, Lando Norris, besides the Ferrari driver. Racing resumes at Spa-Franchorchamps, home to the Belgian GP on August 29.
Will Ferrari end up toward the podium or if possible, on it? And who will ace the battle between the teammates?