Ferrari making ‘zero compromises’ as team targets big improvement in 2022

Ferrari and McLaren fought a long battle for third in the constructors’ championship behind Red Bull and eventual winners Mercedes

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies says the team never considered improving their 2021 car to fight off the challenge of McLaren because their focus was on attacking the 2022 season.

Ferrari and McLaren fought a long battle for third in the constructors’ championship behind Red Bull and eventual winners Mercedes, and the Italian team only sealed their podium spot on the final race of the season.

But Mekies revealed the team never considered putting resources into developing their car, instead directing their energies behind the scenes on their 2022 car, which Ferrari hope will have enough speed to challenge at the top of the standings when new regulations around car engineering come in to force.

“The answer is no,” Mekies told Autosport when asked whether the team had considered improving their 2021 model. “I think we made very clear from very early on, we took the decision to switch to 2022.

“We were hoping at the time, because we are quite distant from McLaren, which is early on in the season, we were hoping that we would be able to fight eventually for the third place. But we had chosen to make zero compromise for 2022. So that’s probably the most clean answer I can give you today.

“We have been asked that 25 times, and no way. The only development we had in the second half of the year was the hybrid, which again is something we’ll use for next year.”