Ferrari will be developing the SF21 till June 2021 says a report by Auto Motor Und Sport. Ferrari is prioritising development so that it can come to P3 in the world constructors championship. Its performance in the first race of the season in Bahrain gave it confidence that if its car is developed decently, it has a shot at beating McLaren to P3. Ferrari believes that its main rivals will be AlphaTauri which has the upgraded Honda engine and McLaren which is also now using the Mercedes power unit. Both the rivals are expected to have more power than Ferrari even though it has introduced a new power unit for the 2021 season.
The SF21 is a big improvement over the SF1000 from 2020 but still it isn't good enough to win races
"The last word in the development of the SF21 has not yet been decided, but Ferrari plans to develop the current car for another two months and only switch to 2022 completely in June. The battle for the third place could also be decided by who has the last word in the development race of the 2021 car," says the report.
The report also reveals that of all the teams Ferrari has lost the least amount of time as the new 2021 regulations have resulted in a massive loss of down-force for all teams. Ferrari's times are closest to the 2020 times.
McLaren's new car has emerged as the third fastest car on the grid
But like all teams, there is a big focus on the new regulations coming in the 2022 season so there is very little possibility that Ferrari will develop the car all the way till the end of the season. Ferrari is working on a new power unit for 2022 and has to adapt its organisation for the new budget cap as well. But if its performance is good in the next few races, it will likely push on with the development of the SF21 till June so that it can secure P3 in the constructors.
