2021

Haas has become the final team to fire up its 2021 Formula 1 car ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Haas built up its VF-21 at its Banbury base but could not fire up the car owing to Italy-based Ferrari power unit personnel not travelling to the United Kingdom. The personnel would have needed to quarantine for up to two weeks in the United Kingdom prior to undertaking the same period of isolation upon return to Italy, owing to ongoing Covid-19 travel restrictions. But on Wednesday at the Bahrain International Circuit the personnel were able to gather for the VF-21 to be fired up in the garage. Haas’ VF-21 is due to run for the first time when testing begins on Friday at the venue. Speaking at the launch of Haas’ 2021 car last week team boss Guenther Steiner said: “This year we were lucky as a lot of parts were carried over. “You can do that [not firing up until testing]; with a complete new car you could never do this, you couldn’t take the risk.” Haas will be the only team on the grid with an all-rookie pairing. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin will split running in the VF-21 across the three days of pre-season testing. “I think that is one of the difficult things this year that these guys don’t get a lot of driving before going into the first race weekend but it is what it is and you cannot change it,” said Steiner. “The only thing that we try to do to make sure that we do as much running without issues. “You always try to do that anyway, try to go there without issues but a little more emphasis on that one because every minute counts now.”

Ferrari has unveiled its new 2021 contender, the SF21, which it hopes will put the Italian outfit back on the right track this season. The Scuderia’s latest design features an all-new livery that includes a color scheme that fades from red to retro burgundy, and a green Mission Winnow logo. But the cosmetic change isn’t the only striking difference with the Sf21’s predecessor, with the car also featuring a new nose and cape design. A down-on-power engine and excessive aerodynamic drag weighed heavily on the performance of Ferrari’s SF1000 last year, a deficit that led to one of the worst seasons in the Italian outfit’s modern history. The House of Maranello’s engineers residing in both its chassis and engine departments have worked hard in the past few months to significantly improve the performance of the Scuderia’s 2021 challenger which is obviously based on last season’s car as teams carried over their basic 2020 designs. Ferrari’s new charger integrates this year’s regulation changes which have led to modifications to the car’s floor, bargeboards and brake ducts, while the SF21 will be powered by a heavily updated power unit which has shown promising results during dyno testing according to Scuderia boss Mattia Binotto. To extract the most of its 2021 contender, Ferrari will rely once again on the talented Charles Leclerc and new recruit Carlos Sainz who has replaced Sebastian Vettel alongside the Monegasque.

Lewis Hamilton is heading into the 2021 season feeling “a bit grumpy”, according to respected F1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle. Brundle, who works for Britain’s Sky, said he has just finished filming some television features with the seven time world champion. “He was very generous but a bit grumpy actually, I thought generally,” he told The Sun. “It’s interesting that his right-hand man, Marc Hynes, is no longer working with him. I sensed he possibly wasn’t super happy with the way the negotiations have worked out at Mercedes.” Indeed, 36-year-old Hamilton has only agreed a one-year contract extension for 2021, with fellow Briton Lando Norris suspecting the Mercedes driver’s career is now winding down. “He’s a guy who likes to do a lot of other stuff outside of F1,” said the McLaren driver. “He knows what he wants to do. He wants to go and enjoy life outside of F1. He doesn’t spend his whole life driving in circles.”

On Wednesday, Ferrari will be the last team to unveil the new 2021 livery. Where we have seen an impressive new livery with many teams, we should of course not expect anything crazy from Ferrari. The SF21 will appear in red again, the difference will be in the details.Still, that doesn’t make Ferrari’s presentation boring in advance, because Ferrari has some work to do. That actually dates back to 2019, when Ferrari fooled the competition with their (illegal) engine, but also themselves. The competition and the FIA discovered Ferrari’s trick and so the engine had to be scaled back. Ferrari clearly did not take this scenario into account in 2019, because the SF1000 was designed to add even more downforce and thus drag. However, with less power than expected, it hurt the team and its customers a lot. Ferrari fell to sixth place among the constructors and did not win a single race in 2020. The SF21 must quickly move on. With a brand new engine and the possibility to make some changes to the car with two tokens, Ferrari has to take another step up. It is therefore very interesting to see what Ferrari has changed about the car, although we will only see in Bahrain how they compare to the competition.

Ferrari and Mercedes have taken up Bahrain’s vaccination offer ahead of the 2021 season opener. We reported last week that despite the Kingdom of Bahrain offering Formula 1’s entire travelling circus the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the sport turned it down. F1 explained that it has “no plans to be vaccinated as a travelling group ahead of the already established rollout of vaccines through the health system in the UK”. La Gazzetta dello Sport, however, claims that Ferrari has in fact answered ‘yes’ to Bahrain’s vaccine offer. “This means that, strictly on a voluntary basis, the staff of the team that is already in Bahrain for the pre-season test will have time to receive the double dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,” correspondents Luigi Perna and Giusto Ferronato wrote. “Ferrari first contacted the health authorities of Emilia Romagna and in the absence of any objection a total of about 100 team members have already been vaccinated,” the Italian newspaper added. “Mercedes has also offered the same opportunity to its staff.”

Daniel Ricciardo has introduced his own wine range called the DR3. The seven-time Grand Prix winner has partnered iconic wine brand St Hugo. In a funny social media video, Ricciardo was the star of St Hugo’s advert which launched the new brand on Tuesday.

There have been rumors of Lewis Hamilton wanting more money or a bigger stake in the team, on the other hand, there have been rumors of Mercedes unwilling to give Lewis a long term contract, there are some other rumors that state Mercedes is not even willing to match the money they paid Lewis Hamilton in their previous contract.Amidst all of this, there have been talks about Lewis Hamilton losing his bargaining power because of George Russell’s performance at the Sakhir GP. Many pundits have given their views as well, as we saw Eddie Jordan famously said that he would have fired Hamilton if he were to make such demands. Lewis Hamilton is the best driver on the grid. There aren’t many drivers on the grid that can do what Lewis did in Turkey in 2020. Having a car incapable of winning and taking the chequered flag with it is something not many can boast of in their careers. Mercedes, in all likelihood, would not have won the race in Turkey. Valterri Bottas showed that by finishing the race a lap down. It was only Lewis and his ability that made this possible for him. This is the gap that Lewis fills in that Mercedes. The change in regulations in 2022 can shrink Mercedes’ advantage. The 2022 regulations have two specific goals. The first is decreasing the budget for the teams and the second is bringing the grid closer when it comes to pace. With the changes in regulations, the role and the impact of drivers on the race is bound to increase. Now, for Mercedes to continue their reign at the top of the sport they would need someone of the caliber of Lewis to win those crucial races, to be consistent, and most importantly to help them win the titles. George Russell is yet to prove himself. Russell had a great weekend at Sakhir, he showed great pace and was able to display a great run of pace. But at the end of the day, it’s just one weekend. Can he do it race after race? Can he keep the pressure of Max Verstappen at bay all the time? Can he perform in all conditions? Can he win when the car is not up to the mark?

Roy Nissany will debut Williams’ 2021 Formula 1 machine during the upcoming pre-season test in Bahrain, as part of his role in the team’s academy programme. The Israeli is currently enjoying Formula 2 testing duties in Sakhir with DAMS and will remain out in Bahrain for the F1 tests, with Williams handing him a full day of track time in the FW43B on day 1. Former F2 racers Nicholas Latifi and George Russell will then step in on days 2 and 3. “We’ve split the test up, a driver each day,” said Williams Team Principal Simon Roberts. “It’s good for Roy Nissany to get that experience in the car. We can use the day with Roy to do stuff that then leaves the race drivers to focus on other parts of the programme.” Switching from Trident to DAMS, Nissany is hoping to challenge towards in the front in his third full campaign at this level.

In the 2021 Formula 1 season, sprint races are likely to be held at a number of Saturday race weekends. A new idea from the management, which Nico Hulkenberg described as ‘rubbish’. Nico Hulkenberg announced on Monday that he will work for Servus TV in 2021. Red Bull’s station broadcasts all Formula 1 races in Austria. According to him, Formula 1 has nothing to gain from sprint races. ”It is rubbish. It sounds to me like something artificial to create excitement. The teams and manufacturers put a lot of money in this sport and thousands of people are involved, and then something like this is thrown at them. It doesn’t fit with Formula 1, where sometimes unexpected things can happen,” the German said according to Motorsport-total.com. According to the man, who is reportedly still considering a possible reserve role at Mercedes and Aston Martin, Formula 1 does not need this kind of measure at all. ”The main race as we know it on Sunday is still worth more than a sprint race on Saturday. You have the main event with one winner”, concludes Hulkenberg.

Williams Racing is delighted to announce a new technology and innovation partnership with B&R Industrial Automation, a unit of ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation business. B&R is a global leader and pioneer of factory automation solutions. The agreement will see B&R Industrial Automation embed their class-leading PLC hardware and I/O modules in the wind tunnel facilities at the team’s base in Grove. Controlled by B&R Industrial Automation’s APROL Edge Controller, the enhancements will provide measurement and recording of energy consumption of the wind tunnel infrastructure, and more granular control and management of the facility that will drive improvements in energy consumption, preventative maintenance optimisation and business efficiencies. Behind the scenes of every Grand Prix, the Williams Racing team work to continually develop and improve its performance and reliability, not only for their racing cars on track, but also for their business and operations at their UK headquarters. With ever increasing demands on business efficiency, coupled with a drive to Net Zero carbon emissions, capturing more data that generates greater insights of the team’s plant and infrastructure is a key contributor to enabling a higher performing and more sustainable business. Al Peasland, Head of Technical and Innovation Partnerships at Williams Racing said: “Following a long-standing, working and supportive relationship, we are delighted to welcome B&R Industrial Automation as a Williams Racing Official Supplier. With a shared vision on plant and process optimisation and B&R’s expertise in process control and automation, we’re excited for the business benefits and operational efficiencies our partnership will bring to the team. We very much look forward to working with our friends at B&R throughout 2021 and beyond.” Jason Johnson, Business Development Manager at B&R Industrial Automation, added: “Although they operate at the pinnacle of engineering, Williams Racing still face the same manufacturing challenges that we all encounter – a requirement to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint whilst maintaining and improving asset effectiveness and availability. We are delighted that Williams Racing has chosen the B&R APROL platform as the basis for their digital strategy. The APROL Edge Controller allows decisions to be made faster using real time data and analytics by making use of disparate data sets from equipment across the facility, and augmenting that with increased data visibility to achieve energy efficiency and productivity goals.”

Mercedes-AMG has presented the new colors of its GT R safety car and C63 S Estate medical car for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The two cars feature a new red paintwork, corresponding to the Affalterbach brand’s signature color, and display the name of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team partner CrowdStrike. Sharing the safety tasks with the Aston Martin Vantage safety car, which will hit the track at the season opener on March 28 at the Gulf Bahrain Grand Prix, the GT R will debut on April 18, at the second round of the F1 World Championship in Imola, with AMG’s Brand Ambassador and Driving Academy instructor Bernd Maylander at the helm. “In all the years my safety cars have never let me down. This exemplary reliability is also a fundamental safety factor. The high race track performance thrills me over and again. I am delighted that I am continuing to drive the FIA Safety Car and in this season it will be even more interesting, not just because of the new color”, said Maylander, who has been driving the FIA F1’s safety cars since 2000. The GT R, which features the AMG Track Package with roll-over protection and ceramic brakes, has no mechanical changes. Thus, the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 still produces 577 HP (585 PS / 430 kW), allowing it to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.6 seconds from a standstill and reach a maximum speed of 198 mph (318 km/h). With Alan van der Merwe behind the wheel, the C63 S Estate medical car will carry medics to the scene of an accident as quickly as possible. It retains the stock engine, producing 503 HP (510 PS / 375 kW), and has the optional ceramic brakes and four individual racing seats inside with four-point seat belts. In addition to the carbon fiber roof light bar, both cars have two additional screens inside, one that broadcasts the race and a second one that shows the current track position of the racers on a graphic.

Toto Wolff has denied Mercedes is struggling with an engine reliability problem ahead of the 2021 season. The title-winning team supposedly ‘turned down’ its engines when Max Verstappen dominated the season ending Abu Dhabi GP, and Mercedes engine boss Hywel Thomas said recently there had been “problems” with the unit ahead of the new calendar. “We don’t have any particular problems with the reliability of the power unit,” team boss Toto Wolff now insists. “Of course, the operation of the power unit at peak power for a long time gives us a lot of information for study, but we have everything under control,” he insisted. “For some years we had problems with engine cooling, but this was because our pre-season simulations did not accurately reflect what was happening on the track. “I believe we have now made a big step forward in this direction,” said Wolff.