The last day of the final pre-season testing session ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season saw Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc work on a programme which was the mirror of Friday’s. Overall, the Scuderia Ferrari drivers copleted 119 laps, which is the equivalent to 644 kilometres, thus bringing the total over the three days to 349 laps (1.889 km). It means that prior to 15 (13 CET) this coming Friday, when the first free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix gets underway, the Maranello team’s F1-75 will have completed a total of 788 laps (3.941 km) between the Barcelona and Sakhir tests, more than any of its competitors.
For Ferrari it was therefore a successful testing session, completed without any reliability problems and with the confirmation that data correlation between the new simulator and the track is not betraying the expectations of the Maranello technicians.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fast in all sessions and consistent on race pace. In the final session, as happened one year ago, Max Verstappen pushed on the flying lap with the most performing compound at the most suitable time in terms of temperatures to take the RB18 to the ‘limit’. In 2021 that was the moment he sent a message to Lewis Hamilton regarding his title challenge, while yesterday he honored the # 1 displayed on his Red Bull. The fact that Mick Schumacher was able to take his Haas car right behind Max Verstappen at the end of the day is indicative of how much Ferrari has hidden its true potential and most importantly the improvement made by Ferrari with its new power unit, which was already strong at the end of 2021 after the introduction of the updated hybrid system.
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“It is said that the new power unit made in Maranello was used with a low power mode and the F1-75 were driven with lots of fuel during testing in Bahrain. The difference in the fight at the top is estimated at two to three tenths.” – we can read in today’s edition of Il Corriere della Sera. The F1-75 has yet to fully unleash the hybrid part: “The engineers at Maranello have not made the most of the power of the hybrid engine,” writes Il Resto del Carlino. Ferrari has a margin, as well as their rivals. The first qualifying of the year, however, is getting closer and closer. In a few days no one will hold anything back and we will see the cars’ true potential.
