On the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Ferrari showed some impressive pace. In terms of on-track performance, how should the times of the Italian side be interpreted?
The Maranello team finished at the top of the timesheets in both the morning session with Charles Leclerc and the afternoon session with Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard achieved his time with the C4 compound, which won’t be available for the GP, but still managed to be eight-tenths faster than Perez, who was second with the C3. The SF-24 has proven to be sensitive to adjustments and comfortable in long runs.
Let’s disregard the time set with the C4 compound tires by Carlos Sainz: the Spaniard clocked a time of 1.29.921 with a set that won’t be available for the upcoming Bahrain GP next week.
Statistically, we can only say that on the second day of pre-season testing, the Spanish driver was within a couple of tenths of Max Verstappen’s pole position from last year (1.29.708), giving the impression that the new generation ground-effect cars should go faster tomorrow.
Ferrari made its presence felt by leading both the morning session with Charles Leclerc (shortened due to a manhole cover issue) and the afternoon session with Carlos Sainz. The SF-24 has shed its ambiguity and shown its credentials. The car is very consistent, maybe not yet a winner, but certainly with potential.
Yesterday, Ferrari’s technicians focused on getting to know the car, looking for correlations with wind tunnel and simulation systems, while today they started working on the setup, trying different chassis adjustments and ride heights. The first data showed that the car is honest: it responds to adjustments and is decidedly less difficult to drive than the temperamental SF-23.
Another positive piece of information is about reliability: a total of 138 laps were covered (84 by Carlos Sainz and 54 by Charles Leclerc) equivalent to almost 5 GPs in two days without a real problem, outperforming Red Bull (128 laps with Perez) and Mercedes (123 laps with Hamilton), while McLaren didn’t go beyond 87 laps also due to a fuel pickup issue.
Obviously, the focus of the insiders was on the times achieved with the yellow-striped tires, which will correspond to the softest compound for the GP. And then the balance changes because Sergio Perez, in the dark and with a nearly seven-degree drop in asphalt temperature, brought the Red Bull RB20 to 1.30.679, leaving the others beyond the 1’31 barrier.
The feeling is that the red car is not yet completely sorted in the low fuel configuration for a single lap: in particular, Charles Leclerc is not yet completely comfortable, but there will be time tomorrow to find the right setup.
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The SF-24, however, impressed in race pace: there’s some tuning to do with the C3 compound, but with the two harder compounds, C1 and C2, Ferrari seemed already on point. The race simulation done by Carlos Sainz in the late afternoon was indicative: the Spaniard did not experience significant degradation during stints, revealing a consistent pace around 1’37 with the mediums which then dropped to 1’35 with the hards, as the fuel tank was depleting and capacity was less than half.
Throughout the day, the technicians evolved the car: from a single beam wing, they switched to a version with two elements in search of more load on the rear. The indications are positive, as even with reduced ride height, bottoming phenomena did not occur.
It’s a solid Ferrari that approaches the 2024 season with not so many fears, while aware of a Red Bull that still sets the pace. Notably, Charles Leclerc was able to complete his work cycle, returning to the wheel of the SF-24 in the afternoon after the forced stop due to the manhole cover that had lifted at turn 11 and damaged the bottom of the red car.
In short, regardless of how competitive the SF-24 will be, the first real feedback of this season tells us that the work done in Maranello seems to have brought an improvement; the track will then provide us with the final verdict.
The car and all the equipment were then moved to Carlos Sainz’s garage, while it was in Charles’s. The spare chassis that was housed in what became the empty garage was also moved. In short, a super job.
The operation was possible because the mechanics only took 40 minutes to convert the Monegasque’s car into the Spaniard’s. No miracle behind this: the team manager, Diego Ioverno, had prepared the crew in a rigorous training exercise done at home. These are details, but they stand out when a team thinks like a top team with certain ambitions.
— see video above —
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