Ferrari maintained a championship-fighting mentality in the 2021 season

Although not on the front line of the title race, Ferrari has always maintained this mentality in the P3 battle against McLaren.

While Mercedes and Red Bull completed their epic title battle, Ferrari and McLaren also had their own fierce battles. In the end, Ferrari gradually mastered the situation, and Ferrari scored a total of 323.5 points throughout the season, eventually beating McLaren by 48.5 points.

Ferrari certainly hope to be champions contenders again in 2022, but at the same time, they are using their rivalry with McLaren to prepare for the future they hope for.

Ferrari motorsport director Laurent Mekis said: "It's not what we want, we are Ferrari and if anyone is happy with third place it is a problem. What I can say is that we treat this year's race like we treat a title battle. We know how precious every chance and every point counts are, and on race weekends, whether it's a new track or bad weather conditions, you have to adapt, so we see this as fighting for the championship, even though we know we're not fast enough to really fight for the championship. We've made progress and are convinced we're headed in the right direction and there's more to wait for the next battle, but we think we'll get there in time. ”

From 2019 to 2020, Ferrari experienced an astonishing decline, from competing for match wins to fighting for points in midfield. Their progress as midfield leaders in such a short period of time has been impressive, with Ferrari taking back-to-back pole positions in Baku and Monaco in the 2021 season.

The key, Mekis said, is to stick together and then use McLaren as a frame of reference for their real progress.

"The first is to stick together in difficult situations, and then we have to fight with McLaren, which in turn is a good reference to show how far you can recover from the past and where the current level is," he said. At tracks like Monza and Sochi, we have some huge gaps with McLaren, but the team has always kept itself and learned from it and then got stronger. ”