How Ferrari gained a new edge over McLaren in F1 2021 battle

Supremacy in the McLaren vs Ferrari fight over third place in the constructors’ championship has ebbed and flowed between the two teams so far in the 2021 Formula 1 season. But for several key reasons, right now it seems the advantage has swung decisively back to the Scuderia and McLaren knows it.

Alex Kalinauckas Oct 27, 2021, 9:19 AM

Upd: Dec 1, 2021, 9:31 PM

What a season Formula 1 is having in 2021.

There are brilliant battles everywhere: Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton, which rightly takes top billing as the closest multi-team title fight the championship has produced in years plays out at every round. Then there’s the contest to be F1's best 'A' team between Alpine, AlphaTauri and Aston Martin, Williams and Alfa Romeo going at it on the edge of the midfield, the Haas rookies battling at the back. Plus, Fernando Alonso vs the FIA and the vagaries of the F1 rulebook. All got these contests got a good outing last week at Austin in the gripping US Grand Prix.

But the standout battle behind the fight at the front between Mercedes and Red Bull concerns two of F1's most storied squads: McLaren vs Ferrari. And they’re scrapping to be best-of-the-rest and secure the lucrative third place in the 2021 constructors’ championship.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.