Ferrari, Ioverno: “It's difficult to predict the behavior of the cars”

'New' Sprint format

Compared to 2023, the six Sprint weekends will see aprogression' different from the sessions. If a year ago Saturday was entirely dedicated to the Sprint sessions, from this year after the single free practice session the Qualifying will take place which will determine the starting grid of the Sprint. Then Saturday will open with the Sprint followed by the GP Qualifying, sessions between which it will be possible to intervene on the cars.

The Ferrari sporting director explained it in detail Diego Ioverno: “The main difference compared to last year is in the revised sequence of sessions. It was designed to be more linear and understandable for viewers. There will be a single free practice session followed by the Sprint portion of the weekend (Sprint Shootout Friday afternoon and Sprint Race Saturday morning). From Saturday afternoon we return to a standard weekend format with qualifying and race. Having changed the programming of the sessions also allowed us to divide the parc fermé into two separate blocks (SS + SR and Q+R) thus giving the teams the opportunity to repair the cars and modify them if necessary after the two Sprint sessions. Obviously it must be kept in mind that every action taken must be absolutely well thought out given that at the beginning of the next session we enter the parc fermé regime again. Another difference from this year is the possibility, in case of damage or serious reliability problem, to request the replacement of the chassis between the Sprint Race and qualifying even though they are on the same day. To be able to even try to make this change if necessary, it is essential to prepare in advance both at team and component level.”

According to Ioverno it will be a great challenge for everyone this Sprint weekend: “The choice to do a Sprint weekend in Shanghai is certainly a great challenge for all those involved in the sector, after five years and with completely different cars both in terms of performance and use. Drivers, teams, FIA and organizers will have only one session to confirm what has been prepared or identify unexpected differences and prepare the necessary actions for the following session – the Sprint Shootout – which will already be competitive. Preventive preparation, capacity and speed of reaction will be fundamental.”

A year ago Leclerc's Ferrari was disqualified at the end of the American GP for excessive wear of the floor. On that occasion the weekend was Sprint: “It is very difficult to predict how the new cars and drivers will adapt to the Shanghai track. It is a very demanding track with different technical contents. The first sector with the sequence of curves 1-2-3 was extremely challenging with previous generation machines and one can reasonably think that it will be even more so with the current ones. It will also be very important to check the state of the asphalt and any depressions or bumps which are definitely the most critical aspects for machines with ground effect.”