Formula 1 Spanish GP
Ferrari: Spain proved race-day weakness now banished
Ferrari Formula 1 chief Mattia Binotto believes the team’s performance at the Spanish Grand Prix proves it has overcome its race-day weakness seen earlier in the season.
Luke Smith Jonathan Noble
Edited: May 13, 2021, 1:44 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Ferrari finished as the leading midfield team in Spain on Sunday as Charles Leclerc took a comfortable fourth-place finish, having spent the first stint keeping Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas behind.
Teammate Carlos Sainz was unable to regain places from Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo after a slow start, but took seventh place to help Ferrari close on McLaren in the constructors' standings.
Ferrari felt after the season opener in Bahrain that the SF21 car had a pace drop-off between qualifying and the race, struggling with tyre management over the longer stints.
Team principal Binotto was uncertain if the issue had been fixed after the races at Imola and Portimao, but was satisfied from the performance in Spain that the team had resolved it.
"I think as Scuderia Ferrari we are pretty happy with the weekend," Binotto said. "We are seeing what was our objective, which was gaining points for the constructors, to finish as high as possible, and I think fourth and seventh has been a good result.
"But as well we know, Barcelona is difficult circuit and normally if you're doing well there, you may do well at many circuits and I think overall the car has performed as expected, not only in qualy.
"I think we had good pace relative to the qualy, and I think as well that both drivers did a good weekend [with] tyre management, which would have been critical.
"That was lacking in the first race in Bahrain, so overall [it has been a] positive weekend for us. And I think that was our sole purpose of the overall weekend."
Read Also:
- McLaren has "clear goal" to improve F1 qualifying
- Hamilton "learned more" about Verstappen than all other F1 races
- Mercedes pinpoints Red Bull's main weakness in F1 2021 battle
Leclerc's run to fourth place drew him to within one point of P4 in the drivers' championship, sitting just behind McLaren's Lando Norris.
The Monegasque driver echoed Binotto's comments, saying he was encouraged by how strong the car was on both Saturdays and Sundays, unlike last year.
"Definitely in Imola we were very strong too," Leclerc said. "In Bahrain for me I didn't do a good job personally to keep the tyres as well as I could have done, and in Portimao on my side, it was quite good too.
"So I don't think there's a big weakness like there was maybe a bit more last year on the race pace. I feel like this year it's a lot more balanced, and we are actually stronger in qualifying and in the race, so it's good."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article FIA to introduce new F1 tests to clamp down on ‘bendy wings’
Next article Pirelli “80-90%” towards finalising 2022 F1 tyres
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jul 22, 2025
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 19, 2023
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1 Feb 18, 2023
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
Ferrari
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Latest news
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
5 h
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe