Second day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari in Barcelona: Charles drives the SF-23 in the morning, focusing on the 2025 tires, while Sainz continues training with the F1-75. The two main drivers will exchange cars in the afternoon to complete the planned work program.
Charles Leclerc started the second day of Pirelli testing on the Barcelona track: the Monegasque is at the wheel of the SF-23 and will drive the 2022 car until the lunch break, when the red 2023 car will pass into the hands of Carlos Sainz, who, in turn, started the morning on the F1-75.
Yesterday, the 2022 car was entrusted to Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother who had his first contact with an F1, as he was appointed a development driver for the 2024 season along with Oliver Bearman.
The Monegasque made himself available to the technicians of the Milanese team developing compounds and new constructions for the 2025 tires. The goal is to find solutions to reduce tire overheating for the last year of the current regulations.
As of now, Leclerc has set a time of 1’15″068, which is already half a second faster than Sainz’s time yesterday. This indicates that the direction chosen by the engineers is heading in the right direction, despite suboptimal weather conditions with 11 degrees of air and only 12 degrees of asphalt.
Carlos, on the other hand, continues the training phase with the older F1-75 and has not gone beyond 1’16″622. The Spanish driver has demo tires and is not participating in the tire work this morning, focusing on reacquainting himself with an F1.
On February 13, during the SF-24 launch, the two main drivers will get a taste of the new car at Fiorano (15 km allowed). The next day, still on the home track, they will share the car in the filming day: the FIA has doubled the mileage to 200 km, so Leclerc and Sainz will have the opportunity to make an initial assessment of the new Prancing Horse weapon, which will not be shown to the press in person but only via the web.
Ferrari has chosen a low profile not to raise too many expectations for a car that will certainly be more competitive than the SF-23 but is unlikely to close the gap with Red Bull.
