Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has said the Scuderia is wary that its simulated performance gains, particularly from the wind tunnel, may not translate into on-track gains in pre-season testing and the 2021 season.
“The start of the season is very important. I don’t expect the balance of power to change much for the rest of the season,” Binotto said.
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“We know our data. But it will be important that we deliver the performance on the track as well.
“In the past, advances from the wind tunnel have not always arrived in practice,” he added.
On Friday, Binotto said their simulations indicate they have made significant progress in reducing the drag of their 2021 car relative to the SF1000, and have also improved their power unit.
“I think that last year the main issue was the speed on the straight lines. Not only the power but both power and drag,” Binotto said on Friday during the Scuderia’s virtual “team launch” event.
“We’ve worked a lot both on the power unit and the car aerodynamics to reduce the drag of the car.
“And based on our simulations today, based on what we can see in terms of power output from the dynos and the drag of the car from the wind tunnel, I think that we’ve recovered quite a lot of speed on the straight lines.
“So I’m expecting the speed not to be such an issue as it was,” he added.
Aside from trying to manage expectations about the performance of their 2021 challenger, Binotto revealed that Ferrari will soon be shifting most of its development resources to its 2022 car.
“Our focus in the coming season is already on the development of the 2022 car. That is our main task. We won’t spend much time developing the 2021 model during the season,” he said.
“The switch to the new cars for 2022 is so extensive that we will definitely shift most of our resources there.”
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