Ferrari must address these issues on the SF21 to return to the top 3

Low point for Ferrari

In 2020, Ferrari had a disastrous year with a sixth-place finish in the constructors. Only once did Ferrari ever finish lower in the championship, which shows how big the debacle was. For those who did not pay attention between 2019 and 2020, it was also remarkable, because Ferrari won three races in 2019.

However, things already went wrong for Ferrari in 2019. The team found a trick to make the engine run faster but this was outside the rules, and Mercedes and Red Bull Racing quickly figured out what the Italian team was doing. The FIA ​​made it clear in a statement what needed to be done, and Ferrari fell far back.

Only in 2020 did it become apparent how much Ferrari had fooled themselves. When designing the SF1000, Ferrari had not taken into account the fact that the engine would be scaled down. Steps were taken with aerodynamics, which greatly increased drag. With more drag and less power, you have a deadly combination.

From SF1000 to SF21

Where in the years before it was standard with Red Bull and Mercedes in the top three, the team could not even compete at the top of the midfield. Ferrari did not win a single race and finished in an embarrassing sixth place.

So a lot needs to be done for 2021 to restore that honour to Ferrari, but the question is whether that will be possible in one year? There will be a new engine, but with three days of testing in Bahrain, Ferrari doesn't have very long to take a good look at this engine. However, you could say that it can't get much worse than in 2020?

The focus is on 2021

In addition to the new engine, Ferrari, like all other teams except McLaren, can use two tokens to change the car. The cars from 2020 will be transferred to 2021, in order to save costs. The floor of the car must be simplified and that also applies to the diffuser.

Those two things will make the decision very difficult for Ferrari. Ferrari will want to address the loss of downforce from the diffuser and floor with the tokens, but also the problem with the drag from last season's car needs to be resolved. It doesn't seem possible that Ferrari can do all of this at once in one year, so their own prediction isn't too bad.

Ferrari themselves are aiming for 2022, when completely new regulations will be introduced for the cars. With a new engine and a new design, Ferrari may be able to compete at the top again. In 2021 it will be a gap year, in which you can expect Ferrari to return to third place. However, we do not have to expect that they will compete with Mercedes and Red Bull.

This article was written and originally published by Tim on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.