Ferrari chief realistic about results

MANAMA • Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has warned that the 2021 Formula One season could be a "very difficult" campaign for his team as the Scuderia focus on long-term improvements.

The Italian outfit slipped from second to sixth in the constructors' championship last term, with a big part of the drop in competitiveness being due to their power unit performance.

Ahead of the opening Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, the team's SF21 car has been fitted with a brand new power unit and Binotto said after pre-season testing last week that it is no longer an area of weakness and that the team's straight-line speed is "not any more a disadvantage".

But the testing sessions also suggested there will still be an extremely competitive midfield this year and he is wary that Ferrari could find themselves in a similar fight to last season.

"It's very difficult when you are not performing as you expect," Binotto, 51, said. "As Scuderia Ferrari, your ambition and objective is always for the maximum, the best.

"It would have been easy to fall into a different situation seeing the bad performance we had, but the team remains united, continuously tries to work and improve.

"We are now at the start of a new season, you have got a different car, you've got new hope.

"But we know it will be a long season, 23 races; it may be very difficult again so I think we need to be prepared, be focused on what is our objective - which is long term - and then not forget it."

Speaking at Ferrari's team launch last month, the Swiss-born Italian also confirmed that he would look to scale back how many races he will be on site for this season, allowing him to place a greater focus on preparations for next year's car.

But for now, with Carlos Sainz replacing Sebastian Vettel alongside Charles Leclerc, the Scuderia's fans are anticipating a marked upturn in the team's fortunes.

"Certainly last year was a big, big disappointment," Binotto added of Ferrari's worst season since 1980, when they mustered just 131 points compared to over 500 in 2019.

"We know that we cannot repeat such a bad result. I think it's really a matter of mentality - team mentality, drivers' mentality."

But he was careful not to raise expectations, with Ferrari's last win coming back in Singapore in 2019.

"What I think will (lead to our recovery) is our will to win," he said. "I'm not saying that we will win - I think that we need to be realistic.

"There are cars (champions Mercedes for instance) that have been very, very strong last year, and with the car (development) being partially frozen, they will be certainly very strong again in 2021.

"The gap with the leaders was substantial. It is not something that can be corrected in one winter."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE