Carlos Sainz explains Ferrari’s extensive programme for first day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. Carlos Sainz emphasized how Ferrari successfully finished all the planned work.

Starting the Work in Bahrain

Wednesday marked the first day of pre-season testing for Carlos Sainz in his final season as a Scuderia Ferrari driver ended with a smile. The Spaniard drove the SF-24 single-seater in the afternoon session, managing to clock the third-best overall time of the day and completing 69 laps, five more than those done by Charles Leclerc in the morning session.

Head-to-Head with Lando Norris

Carlos Sainz stopped just a tenth behind the time set by his former McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, but incurred a gap of 1.2 seconds from Max Verstappen, the day’s leader with the impressive RB20. However, the Spaniard analyzed Day-1 in Bahrain very positively, commenting on the day in a video posted on the team’s social channels.

Carlos Sainz’s comments

“The first day back in the car for testing is always a great feeling,” commented the Spanish driver – “I think it was really a good day for the team because we completed the program as we expected. We also did some long runs and started to ‘play’ a bit with the car. We covered everything we wanted to do. It was a good first day. Now, head down, and let’s see how we can get faster and faster.” – the Ferrari man concluded at the end of the first day of 2024 Formula 1 pre-season testing session.