With the new campaign just a month away, attention turns to a crucial two weeks of testing, in which teams have the chance to run their latest cars and clock up that all-important mileage ahead of the season-opener in Melbourne on March 15.
The winter test programme has been reduced from eight days to just six for 2020, adding to the importance of hitting the ground running quickly at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which once again plays host to both tests.
On the first day of testing Ferrari suffered an early blow to their plans when Sebastian Vettel reported in sick, did a photoshoot with fellow drivers on the start-finish straights before leaving the Spanish Grand Prix venue to recover. Charles Leclerc was instead drafted in to start his duties sooner.
The Monegasque was 1.3 seconds off the pace in the Ferrari SF1000 as he racked up 131 laps during the course of his unexpected first day back at work as they say.
“Today was about the program and laps. It is too early to say where we are in terms of performance. We have not pushed to the limit. As I said, we want to focus on getting to know our car better.” – Charles Leclerc said, at the end of the first day of testing in Barcelona.
“This car seems to be a lot quicker in the corners but we will only know in Melbourne. Based on the numbers, we have more downforce.” – the Monegasque driver added – “We changed our approach for testing a little bit compared to last year. We’re focusing more on ourself to understand the car better.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded.
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