Ferrari officially kickstarted their 2021 Formula 1 season with a Tifosi video conference, transmitted live from Maranello, featuring team principal Mattia Binottto in the hot seat flanked by his two drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
The team are keen to put behind them a torrid 2020 season and have underlined this campaign as a “year for redemption” which means providing a podium challenging car for their stellar driver pairing and a half-decent Power Unit package for themselves and their beleaguered customers.
Ferrari reported from the event on Friday:
Today, Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow presented the 2021 Formula 1 team in an online event that involved not only team partners and the media but also over 300 fans linked-up from all over the world to see Charles Leclerc’s and Carlos Sainz’s first official appearance of the year in Scuderia colours.
The event, beamed from Maranello to the world, began with a short film presenting this season’s driver pairing, as they chatted away. There was obvious chemistry between them, as had already been seen after the Fiorano test a few weeks back, when they drove a 2018 F1 car.
Binotto was the first to speak, explaining that “2021 will be a particularly challenging year. After a difficult season last year, we know that we have to come good in this championship and it will be important to demonstrate our will to win.
“Even though we know this will be a transition year, partly because the regulations do not allow us to substantially change the car and we will simply bring an evolution to the track. We have identified what were the problems with the SF1000 and we have improved the car in all the areas allowed by the regulations.
“We have a new engine, revised aerodynamics and a modified rear end. We want to do well and can’t wait to take to the track and go up against our competition, to check how good a job we have done.”
Mattia Binotto also tackled the topic of the reorganisation of the technical department, which was recently updated, “We are aware that in seasons like the one that lies ahead, the slightest detail can make a difference and so we have worked on every front,” he said.
“The changes made in the technical department also have this in mind, because we believe that defining the roles and responsibilities in the best way possible means everyone in the team can give their best.
“That will be even more important this year when we also have to work on the 2022 car, which required a clean sheet of paper in terms of its design, since there will be radical changes to the regulations.”
The Team Principal also spoke about, Sainz and Leclerc, the new driver pairing, “They are young and similar in certain respects and I think they are very strong. I know they can’t wait to go head to head on track.
“I know they are both aware that, first and foremost comes Ferrari and its interests and so there is no hierarchy. If we were to be clever enough to become the dominant force in Formula 1, then maybe we can start to make certain assessments.
“But for the moment, there is no room for this sort of discussion. First we need to catch up with our competitors,” concluded Binotto.
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