Ferrari have unveiled their 2021 car, the SF21, just two days before pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain.
All ten F1 teams have now taken the wraps off of their 2021 cars, with all of them being carry-overs of their predecessors due to regulatory constraints agreed as a cost-saving measure in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“The rear end [of the SF21] is reminiscent of the burgundy red of the very first Ferrari, the 125 S,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said.
“But as it moves gradually towards the cockpit area, it transforms into the modern red that we have used in most recent years.
“This season presents us with many challenges and through this livery, visually, we reboot from our past and head into the future,” he added.
The SF21 will make its track debut on Thursday in Bahrain for a filming day, and the 100 kilometre limit of running will be split between the Scuderia’s drivers, namely Chares Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies said: “There’s plenty of positive energy coming from our two drivers. Carlos has spent a lot of time in the factory and has integrated with the team very quickly.
“As for Charles, he is already perfectly at home with the team: he knows what he wants and is also very aware of the role he has in the team, both in and out of the car.
“Over the winter, we have witnessed the two guys getting on very well together and this can only be a good thing for the whole team.”
Meanwhile, Enrico Gualtieri, head of Ferrari’s power unit division, said that last season, when they had the weakest power unit in Formula One and had their worst season in four decades, provided “a clear picture of where we were and that was our starting point”.
Continuing, he said: “It was that awareness, combined with our determination, our skills and those of our partners that led to the creation of the 065/6 power unit for the 2021 season.
“We adopted a systematic approach, with all departments – design, simulation, development, track – working together to find every opportunity for improvement.
“Along with our colleagues on the chassis side, we worked a lot on the layout of the power unit, to make the overall design of the car as efficient as possible.
“With the internal combustion engine, we focused on increasing its level of thermal efficiency, in conjunction with our partner Shell and this has produced an improvement in lap time that we estimate at over one tenth of a second.
“We are also carrying out further development on the hybrid system and the electronics, in order to revise and optimise all components. All this in a season in which power unit test bench time has been reduced still further,” Gualtieri concluded.
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