Binotto: The SF21 won't be evolved, we focus on 2022

But Tifosi should not expect much more than what they saw on Sunday as their team appears to have thrown in the towel on this season already, with the focus now firmly on 2022.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were only once top of the timing screens all weekend at Sakhir, when they occupied top spot on the timing screens after Qualifying Q2 but when the chips were down in qualy they lacked the firepower to match the top Red Bull and Mercedes.

While Leclerc mustered all he could to claim a handy fourth place on the grid with a mighty effort, six tenths down on Max Verstappen's pole position time; while new boy Sainz was eighth at the end of his first qualy in Red, albeit 1.2 seconds shy of the benchmark time in Q3 and over half a second shy of his teammate.

But 24-hours later, at the end of the sensational race in Bahrain, the Ferrari duo were an underwhelming sixth (Leclerc) and eighth (Sainz). The SF21 nowhere close to the pace-setting cars is their reality.

Nevertheless, Binotto saw the positive side to the start of the Scuderia's 2021 campaign: "The two drivers getting points is a good start. "Carlos is already working very well with Leclerc and we can finally rely on both drivers.

"Knowing it is also important for us, as it also affects the team spirit," which might be perceived as a dig at Sebastian Vettel who endured a torrid final year with Ferrari in 2020, his form hampered the Reds during that final season at Maranello as they fell out of love with the German.

Binotto then launched a bout of wishful thinking during his debrief with Sky Italia: "At the moment our rivals are the other teams. When we get back to the top, our drivers will be rivals between each other.

"Carlos was close to [Daniel] Ricciardo, despite the fact that his race was compromised by the starting position. But he has had a very solid race as he usually does.

"We chose Carlos because we knew he was very strong in the race and he showed it. He is gaining confidence with the car and adapts very well to the team."

Oddly, Binotto is making plans for an internal driver battle when (and if) they find the blueprint to build winning F1 cars again; something that has eluded them since Singapore 2019 when Vettel triumphed. Last year they were on the podium only three times.

After engineering his team's fall from top of the pecking order to midfield oblivion, Binotto has to now oversee the revival with 2022 the target for podiums. It is clear this is a gap year for the team who have all but thrown in the towel for this year's campaign, and it has hardly started.

He explained: "I don't know what Red Bull and Mercedes will do but for us, this year it is difficult to fight for the podium, they are stronger than us.

"We can aspire to third place in manufacturers, and for that we will have to fight with McLaren and perhaps the car will give us some satisfaction throughout the year. The drivers will give us their opinion after they understand the car and will tell us where to improve the pit stops and the strategy.

"This is the objective of this season, where the car is not going to evolve much because we are very focused on 2022. The important thing is that the news is useful and positive," added the Ferrari team boss who leads the sport's most successful team through one of the worst patches in its illustrious history.