Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will get a good opportunity to regain the Formula 1 driving feeling ahead of the next championship, as the Maranello team will take to its Fiorano track for a three-day testing session by using a two-year-old F1 single-seater. The test will take place in January before the Italian side will officially launch its car for the 2023 Formula 1 season in February.
As recently reported by the Italian version of the Motorsport.com website, Scuderia Ferrari will bring out its SF21 car, which was used for the 2021 F1 championship to complete a three-day test and there give Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz the chance to each driver for a full day and allow them to get back up to speed following the long winter break after the last season.
Charles and Carlos will not be the only ones getting behind the wheel: Ferrari reserve drivers Robert Shwartzman and Antonio Giovinazzi, who just a few days ago was confirmed to represent the Italian side in the 2023 World Endurance Championship, will each drive the SF21 challenger for half a day.
This was Ferrari’s approach also for the previous year, when the Maranello team held a testing session on its private race track before the official presentation of its race-winning F1-75 car. Such a private testing session is very important not just for Charles and Carlos to shake off the rust but also for new recruits – in this case new team boss Frederic Vasseur, who has been appointed at the top of the Ferrari Racing Division, repalcing Mattia Binotto whose relationship with the senior management had deteriorated following a season in which Ferrari was expected to at least challenge for the title, but fell far behind rivals Red Bull despite having the fastest car on the grid in the start of the 2022 F1 championship. Fred Vasseur will therefore get a first chance to familiarise himself with the Maranello team’s ways of working and identify the best solution for improving operational procedures, with the goal of avoiding some of the mistakes seen in 2022.
Other teams will of course also take advantage of similar running time: Mercedes, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri will all be involved in a testing session for official tyre supplier Pirelli and will be allowed to use their car from the previous season, to help the Italian manufacturer continue the development of its new generation of tyres.
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The 2023 Formula 1 campaign, which kicks off on March 5 with the Bahrain Grand Prix, will mark 15 years since Scuderia Ferrari’s most recent World Championship triumph: the Maranello team won the Constructors’ title back in 2008, thanks to Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen and will be hoping to put an end to the long wait in 2023.
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