Will Ferrari manage to climb out of this deep valley in 2021?
Ferrari F1 Media
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Ferrari suffered a low point last season with a sixth place among the constructors. The new SF21 should change that, although the graph of their performance since the hybrid era offers little hope.
The Mercedes era
In 2014, the new engines were introduced for Formula 1. V6 hybrid engines that were supposed to be even more fuel efficient. However, the engines were so complex and so expensive that the differences between the different manufacturers were huge. Despite having the largest budget, Ferrari was not on top in early 2014.
Ferrari finished fourth in 2014. Red Bull Racing and Williams, customers of Renault and Mercedes respectively, even finished above the Italian team. However, the gap with the champion was embarrassing for Ferrari. Indeed, where Ferrari scored 216 points with the two drivers, Mercedes managed to score more than three times as many points: 701.
Low point of Ferrari
Those proportions have changed somewhat, but seven years later, Mercedes is still on top and competitors are fighting a huge battle to close that gap. In 2017 and 2018, Ferrari was the closest, but then it lost its way completely. In 2019, the team finished a close second, but a huge mistake would see them drop all the way down to P6 among the constructors in 2020.
So Ferrari started low, climbed up, and then slumped all over again last year. With one year left under the current aerodynamic rules they may not change much, but with a new engine they will do everything they can to close the gap with the top. Will Ferrari manage to step up again, or will the Tifosi have to wait another year?
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