How Ferrari triumphed in the battle for F1 2021's best of the rest

Thirteen years on from Formula 1’s previous last-lap decider, the teams involved back in 2008 could only watch this year’s fight from afar. Ferrari and McLaren are under no illusions of how things have changed. Neither entered 2021 expecting to mount any sort of challenge to Mercedes and Red Bull at the front of the field, with the change in regulations for 2022 the earliest realistic point that could happen.

Yet both teams used 2021 to lay strong foundations for the future. Not only did both achieve important landmarks and make a step forward compared to last season, but they were engaged in a close, season-long fight that helped battle-harden them; a precursor, perhaps, to the title fights both hope to return to in the near future.

Ferrari was eager to bounce back from its worst campaign in 40 years. The engine issues at the heart of its poor 2020 form were resolved for this year, removing the team’s greatest hindrance, while the arrival of Carlos Sainz Jr as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement brought fresh energy to Maranello.

For McLaren, consolidating its position as ‘best of the rest’ was the goal after rising to third in 2020. Mercedes joined as its new engine supplier, while the loss of Sainz was made up for by signing Daniel Ricciardo from Renault on a three-year contract.

Neither team could make wholesale changes to the cars given the majority freeze in the regulations and the two permitted development ‘tokens’. McLaren spent both of its tokens to fit the Mercedes power unit, while Ferrari focused on the rear of its car for the SF21, a big area of weakness through 2020.

PLUS: How F1 teams tackled 2021's unique development war

Ferrari was encouraged by the early signs from testing and in the opening races that it could be competitive once again.

“We did get some confidence from early on that some of the most significant issues we had with last year’s car were not as strong as they were on this year’s car,” says Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies. “It was not a one-bullet fix, but it was a step in the right direction, after which you improve your understanding and you do other steps, even if they are small.”

Mekies' confidence in Ferrari's improvements was vindicated

Photo by: Ferrari

It quickly set up a two-team fight for third in the constructors’ championship as both enjoyed the kind of highs that were missing throughout 2020. There were podiums, poles, and, in McLaren’s case, even a win. On the occasions when Red Bull and Mercedes did drop the ball (or see their drivers collide), it was usually Ferrari and McLaren that were there to pick up the pieces and to capitalise.

But even on outright pace, there were occasions when both could properly take the fight to the frontrunners. Ferrari found itself excelling on the high-downforce tracks, no more so than in Monaco, where Charles Leclerc took pole position despite a heavy crash exiting the Swimming Pool, the damage from which would ultimately prevent him from starting the race. He took pole again in Baku and, while he faded to fourth in the race, it proved, to the team’s surprise, the pace that could be unlocked.

PLUS: Why Ferrari is sure its long-term Leclerc investment will be vindicated

In the end, Ferrari’s closest shot at victory came at a track not expected to suit the SF21: Silverstone. The first-lap clash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton put Leclerc into a surprise lead, which he clung onto until three laps from the end when Hamilton – recovering from his penalty – battled past.

Ferrari found itself excelling on the high-downforce tracks, no more so than in Monaco, where Charles Leclerc took pole position despite a heavy crash exiting the Swimming Pool, the damage from which would ultimately prevent him from starting the race

Leclerc still regards Monaco as being the bigger missed chance for Ferrari.

“Monaco was very frustrating, because I couldn’t start the race,” he says. “On Silverstone, maybe it’s a little bit less frustrating, because it was such a surprise to be fighting for the win at that point that we were actually all very happy that we could fight for the win until that late in the race. It showed that, even though we were in a very difficult moment, we’ve progressed as a team.”

But McLaren was also looking like more of a force through the first half of the season, albeit reliant on one driver much of the time. Lando Norris became a regular fixture in the top five, scoring three podiums in the first half of the season, as well as almost snaring pole in Austria. As his more experienced team-mate struggled to get up to speed, he grew into a team-leader role.

PLUS: How Norris became more than just McLaren's leader in F1 2021

Norris acknowledges that his performance against Ricciardo this year has been “very good” for his confidence: “There’s always that question of when you go up against a driver like that, are you going to do well? Is he going to beat me in every single qualifying or race of the season? Those thoughts go through your head a little bit. When none of that happens, then you feel like, ‘OK, if I can do this against him, he could beat this guy when he was in the same car, then I must be in a decent place.’ It makes you think of good things.”

Leclerc and Norris led their teams in 2021, but both were beaten in the standings by Sainz

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The lowest ebbs of Ricciardo’s season came in Hungary when, after being caught up in the Turn 1 melee and left with a damaged car, he limped home in 11th, and when Norris lapped him in Monaco. It meant the Australian entered the summer break with less than half of his team-mate’s points total, and in need of a reset.

“I was ready for the August break,” Ricciardo reflects. “When it’s not going your way, you feel like you’re in a cycle. I remember flying back, and I felt at peace with having the time off and getting back to Europe. I felt like the break gave me what I needed. I truly did feel different getting into the car in Spa [after the break]. I felt light again. And the first half of the season was weighing on me, and I felt like I’d got rid of a lot of that.”

It was a reset that put Ricciardo on the path to victory at Monza in September, ending McLaren’s drought that dated back to 2012. It may be a race that will be remembered for Verstappen’s car ending up on top of Hamilton’s in the gravel at the Rettifilo chicane, but, in truth, it was won on merit by Ricciardo.

He’d been leading comfortably before the clash, which, while it did help McLaren score a team 1-2 (the only one of the season), it didn’t change the winner. It was a big statement for Ricciardo after such a rough start to the year, his frustration showing in his post-race radio message: “For anyone who thought I left, I never left. Just moved aside for a while.”

Ricciardo denies it was a pre-planned quote, and admits he hesitated to say it.

“I didn’t want it to be like Valtteri [Bottas], with ‘to whom it may concern’,” he says. “I didn’t want it to be a sound clip, like ‘f*** everyone!’ But I definitely felt like there were a lot of people who had written me off.”

PLUS: The humbling changes Ricciardo made to deliver the goods for McLaren 

After almost nine years without a win, McLaren almost had two in 14 days, when Norris came within a few laps of victory in Sochi. A stunning wet-weather pole was followed by a controlled performance at the front, soaking up pressure from a closing Hamilton, before an incoming rain shower and an insistence on staying out on slicks backfired badly. It was a strategy miscue that denied Norris a maiden win, but was a performance that only added to the acclaim he had won through 2021.

Sainz initially led Norris in Russia before the McLaren driver surged into a lead he only lost when the rain hit

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“We made the wrong decision, but I wouldn’t say I regret anything that I did from my side,” says Norris. “I did what I thought was best at the time. If it didn’t rain any more, I’m 99.99% sure I would have won the race.”

Sochi also marked a turning point in Ferrari’s season. It had slipped to 17.5 points behind McLaren in the fight for third, but the arrival of its upgraded hybrid system – a concept focused on 2022 – offered a timely performance boost.

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“When they brought their power unit upgrade, that helped them,” says Norris. “I still believe we’ve done a better job as a team. I think there’s been more races where they’ve been quicker, but just made more mistakes than us.”

“When I arrived at the team, I really felt like we had to make progress in the way that we execute the race in strategy and tyre management” Carlos Sainz Jr

There is truth in that. Operationally, Ferrari knew it had to improve, as it was far from perfect last season, particularly when it came to pitstops. Mekies looked at the data and found that between 50-60% of Ferrari’s pitstops were under three seconds in 2020. That figure increased to 75-80% in 2021.

“When I arrived at the team, I really felt like we had to make progress in the way that we execute the race in strategy and tyre management,” Sainz says. “The first races were very difficult like that. I really felt strong progress throughout the season on that. The car performed maybe a bit better, but not more than a tenth better than at the beginning of the season. But you see how consistent we were on race execution. It’s another story compared to a beginning.”

That progress combined with the upgraded hybrid system set Ferrari up to finish the year strongly, ultimately 48.5 points clear of McLaren to win the fight for third. But neither team was under any illusions of that being a momentous achievement. Both have far bigger fish to fry as they plot a return to the very front of the pack.

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

“We didn’t set the third position as the final objective for ourselves,” says Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. “Finishing third, it’s encouraging because it’s a declaration that the team somehow has made progress and is going in the right direction. So I think it is giving us some serenity as well through the winter time, which is important because of what we are facing for 2022, which is a completely new challenge.”

Binotto is encouraged by the team's recovery in 2021, but knows a bigger challenge lies ahead with the new regulations in 2022

Photo by: Ferrari

McLaren boss Andreas Seidl admits losing third was “painful” for McLaren, given it had spent so much of the season ahead of Ferrari in the standings. But he accepted that fourth was a “fair reflection” of the team’s season and comparative pace against Ferrari.

“The most important thing is that we made steps forward again,” he says. “Just look at our own progression, the points [up from 202 to 275], that’s very positive. These are the steps I want to see and I have to see within the team, because it just confirms we are going in the right direction for next year, but I don’t expect big changes in the pecking order. We still have to grow and improve and, at the same time, we’ll try to shortcut that journey.”

Red Bull and Mercedes aren’t underestimating the threat from behind for next year. Red Bull boss Christian Horner joked in Abu Dhabi that Ferrari could “turn up with the fastest car and smash us out of the park” next year, while Mercedes’ Toto Wolff believed there were “a few teams” that could “do really well” under the new regulations and pose a threat to the current dominant duo.

That was why the fight for third was McLaren’s and Ferrari’s own championship fight this year. Vying to only be ‘best of the rest’ won’t have truly satisfied either team, given the people working there and their rich histories of success. But the progress made and the achievements of all four drivers through 2021 may well be important steps towards the success both crave.

Both McLaren and Ferrari want to be back fighting for titles next year

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Sainz and Leclerc ‘as good as it gets’ as F1 team-mates

By replacing Sebastian Vettel as Charles Leclerc’s team-mate for 2021, Carlos Sainz Jr was thought by some to be taking up a ‘number two’ role at Ferrari. After all, Ferrari had signalled that Leclerc was the key to its future by handing him a long-term contract after his breakout 2019 campaign.

But Sainz’s stock only continued to rise through his first year at Maranello as he not only beat Leclerc in the championship, but also helped form a potent on-track partnership and a new ‘bromance’ off-track with his team-mate.

“He’s had an amazing year,” Leclerc says of Sainz. “He has obviously pushed me to try and perform better at every race. One of the strong points of Carlos is the race management and tyre management and that’s probably been my weakness in 2019. I progressed a lot as a driver in 2020, and again this year, and part of this year is thanks to Carlos.”

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As Sainz adjusted to life at Ferrari, he grew in confidence, and was able to lean on Leclerc for help to tame the SF21.

“The way that he was driving the Ferrari in a particular way to be as quick and as fast as he’s been all year long, I’ve had to adapt myself,” Sainz points out. “Sometimes it was difficult to believe that it was possible to do that and it was so crazy quick that it was actually a bit shocking. But little by little adapting, and trying to learn from him, I managed to get to a good level.”

The final race in Abu Dhabi was proof of how far Sainz had come. Ferrari ran a foot-perfect, clean race to grab a fourth podium of the season amid the late chaos, giving Sainz fifth in the drivers’ standings ahead of McLaren’s Norris and Leclerc, the Monegasque ending the season just 5.5 points off his team-mate. Sainz felt the performance at Yas Marina was a result of “everything I’ve learned through the year, the way that I’ve progressed with a team in executing a good race”.

“When we signed Carlos, the objective was to have two good drivers that were good racers, consistent and capable of scoring points for the team – I think it’s what we got this season,” says Binotto. “I’m very proud of both of them. I think, as I often said, we’ve got the best line-up in Formula 1.”

Sainz and Leclerc have gelled well together, forming one of the best-matched lineups on the grid

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

The arrival of Sainz has also aided the atmosphere at Maranello, particularly after the occasional friction between Vettel and Leclerc. The team has even named Charles and Carlos ‘C²’ for its social media channels, and they’ve spent large parts of this year off-track playing chess against each other.

“We got quite crazy with it in the first part of the year,” says Leclerc.

But it goes beyond friendship. Mekies says Ferrari’s driver pairing is “as good as it gets” both technically and in terms of a working relationship: “It’s deeper than being friends. The level of respect and desire to work together, and trust in both as a character and their technical abilities is huge. They both share the same drive to push the team to recover.”

Much as for Ferrari, simply fighting at the head of the midfield and snaring the occasional podium won’t be enough for Leclerc and Sainz. Both put in performances this year proving their star quality, going a long way to support Binotto’s claim that Ferrari has the best line-up on the grid.

Sainz ended the year with an excellent podium in Abu Dhabi, his fourth rostrum visit of the year

Photo by: Ferrari