Ferrari reveals SF21 name, launch plan ahead of 2021 F1 test

Ferrari plans to unveil its 2021 Formula 1 car, the SF21, just ahead of pre-season testing at Barcelona in Spain next year.

Ferrari will hold a team launch in the early part of the year, to introduce its management and driver line-up of Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc (shown above with Team Boss Binotton), but will not reveal its car until just before it runs on track for the first time.

Speaking to selected media from Maranello, team principal Mattia Binotto explained Ferrari’s plans for the pre-season period.

“We already decided the name of the car next year. The car will be called SF21,” he said. “It’s a very simple name, because we believe that next year is a transition to 2022. So let’s keep SF21 the name of the car. It will be partially a frozen car, same chassis as 2020.

“We will organize differently the unveiling of the car next year. We will organize first an event where we will present the team and our drivers to our fans, to our partners and to the journalists.

“But we may organize a second event, and that could be directly at Barcelona winter testing, where we will unveil the car. And that will be somehow done in a different [way].”

“I can confirm the engine is running well on the dyno,” he said. “I think that in terms of performance, it progressed well. Significantly I think compared to what has been 2020.

“I think that we will be back to being competitive as a power unit. I think we will not be the worst in the field, and that is the feeling I got from the figures I’ve seen on the dyno. But I cannot know what the others are doing, or how much they have progressed.”

“We try to do our best in order to address at least the weaknesses of the 2020 car for next year,” he said.

“In addressing the weaknesses, I mentioned the power unit more than once. But the drag of the car was very, very high in 2020. And I think that looking at the 2021 car, the drag has been somehow certainly addressed.”