"I would not underestimate" - Ferrari boss wary of the threat posed by Mercedes and Red Bull for F1 2022 season

After experiencing its worst year in F1 history in the 2020 season, Ferrari has pushed itself to significantly improve in 2021. So much so that it is now anticipated to be fighting for the title once again in the years to come. The team, however, is well aware of the threat posed by front runners Red Bull and Mercedes. In the last couple of seasons, Ferrari has been nowhere close to challenging these constructors.

With the new technical regulations coming in 2022, team standings are set to get mixed up with less disparity in car performance and more competitive racing. While Ferrari believes this could be its come-back year, it understands that it would be "naive to think that it's going to be easy to close the gap."

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies told Autosport:

“I’m sure they [Mercedes and Red Bull] had to develop this year. However, they are in both cases incredible organizations and it’s enough to look at the results to see it. Therefore, I would not underestimate for one second their capability to produce a great 2022 car.”

The Italian constructor focused the majority of its time and resources on the 2022 season. Combining this with the Leclerc-Sainz team-mate pairing that has proven to be successful over the past year, the Prancing Horse is set to charge into 2022 with a championship-winning mindset.

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Toto Wolff considers Ferrari a real threat for 2022

Mercedes has won eight consecutive world championships and, on the face of it, that's very beneficial to the team. When it comes to aerodynamic development for 2022, however, the German team is at a disadvantage. Ferrari, on the other hand, struggled immensely in 2020, but now has a major upper hand over the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes in terms of F1's aero handicap system.

As reported by Express.co.uk, Wolff expressed his concerns about the threat from the Maranello-based team in 2022:

“We absolutely have to [assume] they will be in the mix next year, because they’ve had more aerodynamic development scope because they had a bad season last year.”

Ferrari has not won a world constructors' championship since 2008, while Mercedes has not lost a championship since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era. The 2022 season is set to bring in a new era of F1 where fans can hope to witness a change in team standings and competitive racing.