Notice to sailors: the sea is calm, not stormy. It is not a bulletin that looks at the wave motion in the Persian Gulf, but expresses the atmosphere in the Ferrari garage after the first day of collective testing in Bahrain.
The slap that Max Verstappen gave everyone with the Red Bull RB20 must make us reflect, but it shouldn't hurt: certainly the second that the three-time world champion inflicted on his best pursuer did not go unnoticed, but in the Scuderia there were no panic.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, who lapped in the afternoon, finished in third place on the time table: it is true that with 1'32″584 he was 1″2 behind the Dutch champion, but he is one tenth behind Lando Norris in the McLaren MCL38 , the single-seater most credited with being Red Bull's first pursuer.
Certainly the new Red Bull made the whole paddock wrinkle their noses, but Fred Vasseur's troops, at least for today, did not lose their composure. The work plan that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz shared was very clear internally, so there were never any shocks. The objective was to discover the characteristics of the SF-24 after the Fiorano filming day.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
The drivers were called to carry out aerodynamic tests for what is defined as the mapping of the car which was followed by data scanning. A methodical, planned work designed to find all the correlations with the wind tunnel and simulation systems. We saw Verstappen “humiliate” Charles Leclerc in the straight in the morning, but the Dutchman had opened the DRS, while the Monegasque proceeded with the mobile wing closed in a configuration that was the basic one. A challenge with absolutely unequal weapons.
Ferrari chose to run only on the hardest compounds in the available Pirelli range, namely C1 and C3, and there was always plenty of petrol in the tank. From tomorrow, once the machine knowledge plan has been completed, the development phase will begin with the first setup adjustments.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Uncredited
The most important aspect that emerged today is that the SF-24 is decidedly kinder on the tyres: in his long run Carlos Sainz saw times that went down as the fuel on board decreased. Tire wear, last year's bugbear, seems to be under control and even the congenital understeer of the SF-23 seems decidedly less pervasive.
The summary of the day for the red therefore seems positive: 133 laps were completed (Leclerc 64 and Sainz 69), a distance equivalent to over two Grands Prix. Ferrari has not suffered any technical problems, so the expectation is that from tomorrow we can start making direct comparisons with the competition. The Maranello team, for now, can still sleep soundly…
#Ferrari #Scan #work #tires #wear
