What Ferrari still needs to improve to return to F1 title contention

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Dec 2, 2021, 10:26 AM

After a disastrous 2020 in which it slumped to sixth in the F1 constructors' standings, Ferrari has rebounded strongly and is on course to finish third - despite regulations that forced it to carryover much of its forgettable SF1000 machine. Yet while it can be pleased with its improvement, there are still steps it must make if 2022 is to yield a return to winning ways

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When the Ferrari SF21 was launched back in late February, Mattia Binotto was adamant that Ferrari would improve on its disastrous 2020 campaign. The team boss made no promises of victories or a title charge – that was simply never possible with the car carryover requirements forced upon the teams as a cost-saving measure amid the pandemic – but he did vow to make progress back towards the front. And Ferrari has certainly done that.

The shoots of recovery were clear to see by the start of summer. Ferrari had taken two shock pole positions and, although it was never in victory contention, mainly because Charles Leclerc was unable to start his home race in Monaco from the front of the grid, that was still far better than anything the SF1000 achieved on pure pace. And by almost every other statistical measure, Ferrari’s current challenger has made the 2021 campaign better than the woeful season the red team endured last year.

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.