Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari tops the third and final day of the 2024 Formula 1 pre-season testing session at the 5.412 km Bahrain International Circuit located in Sakhir, Bahrain. The SF-24 confirms the positive impressions from the first two days and is ready for the opening race of the championship.
The last day of the 2024 tests in Bahrain begins with Carlos Sainz at the wheel of the Ferrari SF-24. The Spaniard uses a set of C4 tires from Thursday and alternates between fast and slow laps to give the tires some rest. Car number 55 immediately takes the lead in the standings with a time of 1:32.017.
Later, he switches to a new set of C3 tires and lowers the limit even further to 1:31.247, which also becomes his best time of the day. After about half an hour, a new problem with a drain cover causes a red flag, interrupting the work of drivers and teams. The stop lasts for over an hour, to the extent that to make up for the lost time, the lunch break is canceled, and the session continues straight until 7 PM local time.
Resuming activity after just over an hour, the Spaniard continued to set fast laps interspersed with slow laps using several sets of C3 tires. The program then includes long runs of about 10/11 laps, a task Ferrari has frequently performed in these testing sessions in order to assess the consistency of the race pace and tire durability. Carlos completed a remarkable five long runs with used C3 tires, which already had 4/5 laps of life at the start of the stint. The times are listed in the table below:
Credits: F1inGenerale
The times confirm what had already been observed in the first two days. Regarding tire management, the SF-24 represents a clear step forward compared to its predecessor. There is a decline in times in the second and especially in the fourth stint, but we are not aware of the type of work carried out by the technicians in Maranello, while the other three stints appear quite solid.
After completing the long runs, Carlos Sainz handed over the wheel to Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque continued the same work completed by the Spaniard on the afternoon of day 2. The 2022 vice-champion starts with a set of C3 and sets fast laps interspersed with slow laps. In his first qualifying simulation lap, still with C3, he stops the clock at 1:31.374.
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He then switches to the softer C4 to take the lead in the standings with 1:30.409. With the second set of C4, he almost repeats with 1:30.498. With the third set of C4, he then sets the best time of the day at 1:30.322. However, he remains four-tenths away from the best performance set by Carlos Sainz on the second day, which also constitutes the absolute record of these tests.
The best news for the Ferrari team once again comes from the race simulation. Charles Leclerc has indeed managed to do even better than Carlos Sainz on the second day of testing. The Monegasque and Max Verstappen practically carried out the race simulation at the same time, allowing for a direct comparison on the track.
Comparing the times, the significant step forward made by Ferrari is evident, but the road to reaching the top is still very long. With C3 tires and a full fuel tank, the consistency with which Verstappen managed to beat in the low 1:37 range was almost embarrassing. Even with the softer compound that we will see in the Grand Prix weekend, the RB20 practically showed no degradation on its own covers.
Charles Leclerc managed to keep up in the first laps, but gradually increased with each lap, finishing his C3 run in the low 1:38s. A trend that had already been noticed with Carlos Sainz. The situation then improved with the harder C2 and C1. In any case, the simulation completed by Charles Leclerc turned out to be significantly better than the one carried out by Oscar Piastri with McLaren, while a comparison with Mercedes is practically impossible as the Brackley team has done different work.
Therefore, at Ferrari, one can look forward to the start of the season with a certain optimism. The progress made in winter is evident to all, and the car is easy to drive and push to the limit, as admitted by the drivers themselves several times. The SF-24 has started well and can be a good foundation to develop for the future.
Chasing Max Verstappen seems like a rather challenging task, while the other Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, appears much more vulnerable. Being the second force in this early part of the 2024 Formula 1 season seems like an achievable goal for the men from Maranello.
Charles Leclerc
1:30.322 (C4) – P1
“We concluded our third day of testing, completing once again a good number of laps and trying different things, which is undoubtedly positive. The car seems to respond as we want, but it’s challenging to judge our level of competitiveness at the moment. The feelings are certainly better than a year ago: now we just have to focus on the Grand Prix, and I can’t wait to get back in the car next week.”
Carlos Sainz
1:31.247 (C3) – P9
“Last kilometers here in Sakhir, where we maximized the last laps available to prepare as well as possible for the Grand Prix next week. Overall, it was another positive day, and despite the red flag that disrupted the program a bit, I enjoyed every lap in the cockpit. We tried different configurations to gather as much data as possible, and overall, the car seems to be in pretty good shape. I’m proud of the team’s work to put us in a position to have such a productive test.”
Source: f1ingenerale
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