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What will happen to Ferrari and other unknowns of the new Formula 1 season

2021-03-25T11:31:39.828Z


The sixth place in the last championship was the worst result of the Italian team in 40 years. In addition, there were castling of pilots and renamed teams.


Sabrina faija

03/25/2021 8:01 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • sports

Updated 03/25/2021 8:01 AM

At the beginning of the 21st century, Formula 1 had lost interest: before the weekend was over, it was easy to guess that Michael Schumacher would win the race and, consequently, the title.

When Ferrari entered a debacle, the unexpected dominance of Red Bull emerged and, after Sebastian Vettel's four titles, the overwhelming superiority of Mercedes, which plans to continue in this 2021 before the regulatory change.

Thus, the season that starts this Friday with the Bahrain Grand Prix is ​​surrounded by questions whose answers are not easy to elucidate, at least until the cars accelerate.

What can be identified is that

the pieces moved

for this 2021 that promises to be the longest calendar in history (23 races) if the coronavirus pandemic does not prevent it.

There were driver castings, teams that changed names and three rookies, plus a few changes to the cars.

Expectations are set for 2022, with the possibility that the competition will level off and end the current "tyranny" of the winners.

What will happen to Ferrari?

Ferrari is confident that no year could be worse than the past, when its 131 points condemned it to sixth place,

the worst place in 40 years

in the constructors' championship of which it was once king.

Aware that it put a car without speed on the track on the straights, where Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were easily outmatched, the

Scuderia

improved the power unit

and reduced the resistance, as demonstrated in the preseason tests at the same circuit of Sakhir where the official activity will begin this Friday.

“I think Ferrari is hiding and not showing too much.

Compared to last year,

I think they are clearly better

.

I discussed it with Leclerc after testing and we exchanged a couple of messages.

We talked, but not too much, I just tried to get an idea!

I think we are close to each other.

I don't know if they are ahead of us or if we are a little ahead.

But Ferrari has clearly taken a step forward, "acknowledged Pierre Gasly, the man who took the glory with his Alpha Tauri at Monza, where Ferrari had its worst performance.

The best race for the Italians last year was the Turkish Grand Prix, with a third place from Vettel and fourth from Leclerc, which added another two podiums.

However, both mechanical and institutional problems - with a restructuring of the team, which still kept Mattia Binotto as boss -, added to a broken relationship with the four-time champion when announcing his departure before the start of the season made the situation uphill. anus.

“2020 was a great disappointment.

We know that we cannot repeat such a bad result

”, confessed Binotto.

Now, the team will have its

youngest duo since 1968

.

Carlos Sainz, 26, signed until 2022 to be the partner of Leclerc, the Monegasque who in 2019 arranged the longest contract in the history of the Prancing Horse -five seasons-.

And it is the Spanish, precisely, who feeds the illusion that, "although the process may take some time, the team will finally return to its winning path".

“History shows that teams that have won in the past can be competitive again.

Ferrari is the most successful team in the history of our sport and there is a reason behind that.

If there is a team on the grid that can fight to the top, that is Ferrari

”, added who to arrive left McLaren, the best behind Mercedes and Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz Jr with the Ferrari number 55 in the pre-season tests in Bahrain.

AFP Photo / Mazen MAHDI

Have you chosen Spanish well or will you regret it?

In addition to the soaring performance of recent years, the British

dealt a double blow to Renault

: they left their engines and partnered with Mercedes - being the only team to change their power unit supplier - and they removed Daniel Ricciardo, the winner. of seven Grands Prix and the fifth best driver of 2020, only surpassed by Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen and Checo Pérez, that is, the men who this season will ride the best cars on the grid.

The other improvement from the Woking team that became notorious in testing was the decision to fold in the rear

diffuser

blades

instead of trimming them, as the other nine teams did in response to FIA regulations to reduce downforce on the back of cars.

“We are surprised to be the only ones to have done this.

The credit goes to our aerodynamic department for realizing that there was an opportunity to use the new regulations like this, "said McLaren chief designer James Key.

On the left the rear diffuser for 2021, on the right the old diffuser with longer strakes.

Photo: Official Formula 1

Can Max Verstappen finally break with Hamilton's hegemony?

Max Verstappen created excitement when he became the youngest rookie, at 17, and winner of a Grand Prix, at 18 years and 228 days.

The expectation was that he would also break Sebastian Vettel's record as the youngest champion.

However, on September 24 the Dutchman will reach 24 and at that age that goal will slip out of his hands.

Uploaded to what proved to be the best car behind Mercedes,

Mad Max

won just two races in 2020

and this season the challenge will be twofold because he will once again have a partner who will not settle for being second.

Checo Pérez was left without a place in the new Aston Martin but ended up in the powerful Austrian team, where one of the challenges will be to face Verstappen.

Earned little.

Verstappen was left with just two races in 2020. Photo Reuters

“I knew it since I knew he was coming to Red Bull.

But this is what I wanted.

I wanted to measure myself against the best in sport.

So it is a great challenge and a great opportunity, and something that I look forward to.

The way I see it, I have absolutely nothing to lose in my career,

"analyzed the Mexican, who admitted in his first contact with Red Bull that it was" totally different "from what he was used to after seven seasons at Force India / Racing Point.

Having a strong partner for the first time since Daniel Ricciardo's departure should help the Christian Horner-led team fight for its first title since 2013, as long as the relationship between the drivers is good.

Two weeks ago in Bahrain, the car showed great performance.

"Definitely, I think he has been the best," Verstappen said when asked if he had ever had a better preseason test than in 2021.

Will having Alonso be enough for Alpine's promotion?

The alpine of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, in this new stage for Renault in F1.

Photo DPA / SPORTS ALPINE F1 TEAM

Cyril Abiteboul will no longer be in the paddock but Fernando Alonso will be, the great bet of Renault in his new stage in F1 as Alpine.

The decision of the general director, Laurent Rossi, not to have a team leader - the tasks will be divided between the executive director, Marcin Budkowski, and the new competition director, Davide Brivio - will differentiate him from the rest of the teams, as well as its engine,

the only Renault

before the departure of McLaren.

The other change is due to the unaesthetic appearance of the A521.

Engineers widened the air intake located above the pilot's head, giving it an air of a hump that, while "a bit embarrassing," according to Chief Marcin Budkowki, "works."

"It is a technical choice, we have repositioned the bulkiest parts of the car and placed them behind the air intake. It looks like a

big hump

, but it works for us. The center of gravity is compromised, but the aerodynamic performance is compromised. compensate, "he stressed after some pretty good preseason tests, which marked the return of Alonso, owner of the second fastest time in his first contact with the car.

The Asturian will play his 19th season with two titanium plates in his jaw and

will reach 40 years of age during his third cycle

with the French team, with which he was two-time world champion 15 years ago.

Although he did not stay away from motorsport - he dedicated himself to endurance racing in the last two years - his readjustment to the car is one of the unknowns.

Will Vettel raise the bar at Aston Martin?

Vettel's experience at Ferrari was not what he dreamed of when he left the Red Bull project to join the rebuilding of the Italian team.

Hurt by a unilateral decision not to continue with the link and announced when the season still had to start, the German left the

Scuderia

and found a place in Aston Martin,

Lawrence Stroll's bet to renew a Racing Point

that was seven points

behind.

finish third the previous season.

And, as a result of that change, the uncertainty will go through the performance of the car and also the four-time champion.

Ferrari has destabilized Vettel

, I think there were political aspects that undermined his confidence and ended up affecting his driving.

It is true that he has lost opportunities, but there were also great performances.

Sebastian can still say a lot and if he finds a chance to get on the podium or win, he will give his best.

I hope he has regained his self-confidence because sometimes I look at him and it seems he is not motivated or confident, which is concerning, "champion Damon Hill recently observed on Sky Sports.

Vettel with the green Aston Martin at the Sakhir circuit two weeks ago.

Photo Mazen MAHDI / AFP

For now, what Vettel showed was peace of mind, which did not change a problem with the gearbox or a loss of boost pressure in preseason tests.

“Maybe it's age, maybe it's experience.

But probably

10 years ago now I would panic a bit

.

It could be worse, it could be better but it could be worse.

I think it's about staying calm, doing one thing at a time, and moving forward when the time is right.

I think there is still a lot that I can improve and a lot that we can improve, ”he told the F1 site.

Aston Martin is undoubtedly on the horizon as his last chance to show that he can still stay in F1.

In the lower zone Haas loses

47. Mick Schumacher's Haas dedicated to his dad.

Photo Mazen MAHDI / AFP

The Haas VF-21 will not be updated during the season and appeared to be the least developed in the preseason.

However, the goal of the American team is not to win but to

clean up the finances

for 2022. And that is why Guenther Steiner did not hesitate to bring together two newcomers, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, who will generate an interesting income of money but that could not deliver good results.

That it could be favored

Williams

, the worst team of the last two championships, action that led to the departure of Claire Williams and the landing of the financial holding Dorilton Capital.

Alfa Romeo performance is expected to continue to rise, supported by champion Kimi Raikkonen and improvements to the Ferrari power unit.

While

Alpha Tauri

will seek to make the definitive leap to the mid-zone with an AT02 that dreams of being the revelation of the season.

Pierre Gasly's confidence and Yuki Tsunoda's bet fuel that goal.

Source: clarin

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