How Ferrari is turning "progress into facts" after "darkest moment"

Sainz, Ferrari, RussianGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Mexico City Grand Prix

How Ferrari is turning "progress into facts" after "darkest moment"

Ferrari endured its worst season since 1980 last year

Sam Hall & Ian Parkes

Saturday 6 November 2021 17:00

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Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies has hailed the Scuderia's uptick in form as "turning into facts" after a dire 2020 season.

Ferrari endured its worst campaign since 1980 in last year's campaign with the team finishing sixth in the constructors' standings.

Arriving in Mexico on the back of a 10 race scoring streak, a run bettered only by Mercedes with 11, Ferrari trail McLaren in the 'fight for third' by just three and a half points.

It’s a very good fight, McLaren have had a very strong season," said Mekies.

"They had a great win in Monza, it’s a team that is pushing very hard and you know we are happy to be in that fight. We don’t forget where we were last year.

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"So, the fact that we have managed to reconstruct to the extent that we can be in that fight today is a good testimony on the progress made by the team on that reconstruction."

Asked what securing third in the constructors' championship would mean to the team that has finished top of the pile on 16 occasions, Mekies explained: "I think it means turning into facts the progress that we are trying to make, and that we believe we are making, so that’s what it is all about in the end.

"I think the greatest signs of the reconstruction is that even in the darkest moment of last year the team stayed very united.

"We know we were in front of a huge task to turn things around and to get out of the situation we were in, but even in this darkest moment the team was very, very strong at sticking together.

"This year, despite the fact the regulations were very restrictive in the amount of development you could do into the car, we’ve seen some progress, it gave confidence, we’re brought some more developments to the car, they have taken the car in the right direction.

"It gave again some more confidence, so I think it’s a reconstruction phase."