ferrari has become the penultimate formula 1 team to unveil its new racer for the 2021 season. With the SF21, the scuderia wants to forget its epidemic year of 2020 and return to the front of the field. an ironic touch: after sebastian vettel’s departure to aston martin, the new color of the red car is green. But it is also known as the color of hope.
Scuderia focuses primarily on new engine
A lot is new with the ferrari SF21 – at least visually. The rear part of the car is painted in burgundy. It’s the same color as on the first Ferrari, the 125 S. from the rear, however, the ferrari becomes brighter and brighter, interrupted by a color that has never been seen before on an italian car: the logo of permanent sponsor phillip morris "mission winnow, emblazoned in green on the bolide this year. The color scheme is a clear message, the so-called "mission winnow" is an environmental campaign by the tobacco company.
But more important than the paint job is what Italy’s red-green F1 coalition has under the hood. last year, the engine was Ferrari’s weakest point. the scuderia’s power unit was between 50 and 60 hp short of the industry leader Mercedes.
"According to our simulations, from the data we see on the dyno and also in the wind tunnel, we should have made up quite a bit of speed on the straights", team boss mattia binotto was optimistic about the new engine recently.
Charles Leclerc expressed a similar opinion, even if the Monegasque doesn’t talk big: "I don’t think the top speed will be such a problem this year. We hope to be competitive", said leclerc at "gpfans. However, it will not be known until the first race in bahrain (28. March) see exactly where you stand.
Leclerc has to compete against spanish driver carlos sainz this season after leaving vettel for ferrari.
Knob nose was ground off
Apart from the green touch, the SF21 looks at first glance like an evolution of the unloved red cucumber of the previous year. This is not particularly surprising, since the rules for the upcoming season have hardly changed at all.
"This car was therefore born out of last year’s", said binotto at the presentation: "we have nevertheless tried to improve it in all the areas where it was possible to do so." besides the "completely new power unit the team has also reworked the aerodynamics, says the italian.
A closer look shows that the scuderia engineers have been tinkering over the winter: the exhaust, for example, is integrated into the rear aerodynamics, and the wings around the bargeboards are much more complex. The red surgeons have also slightly slimmed down and supported the knobbly nose, and ground and rounded it off properly. The SF21’s front wing is reminiscent of a gillette five-blade razor.
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Most changes at the rear
Because of the very limited options for changing the basis of the car, it was necessary to consider "where to make the changes", chassis director enrico cardile explained: "we decided to go for the rear end." the unstable rear axle was one of the SF1000’s many problem areas from last year.