After the SF-23 exams in Barcelona as driver coaching, Ferrari will return to the observe—particularly, the Montmelò circuit—for 2 days of testing scheduled by Pirelli for the event of the 2026 tires. On the Catalan circuit, McLaren may even be busy, having examined the brand new technology rain tires at Paul Ricard for the only real provider. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri accomplished 840 km with the MCL60, that’s, the 2023 single-seater.
Pirelli appeared very happy as a result of, for the primary time, the wet-weather exams had been carried out underneath repeatable circumstances, so the various information collected are legitimate for making helpful comparisons to information growth, particularly of the complete rain tires, which have to this point been the Achilles’ heel of the Italian firm’s wonderful provide.
Whereas McLaren selected the MCL60 as its mule automobile, Ferrari has determined to make use of the SF-24, the automobile that gained 5 GPs final 12 months, ending second within the Constructors’ Championship. This alternative is spot on as a result of the 2024 automobile is not going to be usable besides on this particular occasion.
On Tuesday the 4th and Wednesday the fifth, the 2 drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, will likely be busy. The Englishman will return to the Spanish observe the place, final Wednesday morning, he had an accident within the closing sector of the circuit, inflicting important injury to the SF-23.
The prolonged restore prevented Charles Leclerc from entering into the automobile that afternoon, but it surely didn’t cease Antonio Giovinazzi and Dino Beganovic from finishing the work plan scheduled for the next day. The small print of the crash had been saved extremely confidential, with efforts made to downplay the incident, regardless that the impression towards the boundaries was reasonably sturdy, inflicting, amongst different issues, the breakage of the suspensions.
The Ferrari that will likely be used within the Pirelli take a look at will likely be a automobile considerably totally different from the one which ended the 2024 season: to accommodate the narrower tires, the Scuderia’s technicians needed to modify each the entrance and rear suspensions and in addition scale back the aerodynamic load by at the least 20%, which is the legislator’s goal for the agile single-seaters of 2026.
It’s fairly evident that this take a look at is not going to be in any respect indicative of the strengths and weaknesses of the SF-24: Lewis Hamilton, like Charles Leclerc, should carry out a blind take a look at—that’s, he’ll comply with a piece program outlined by Mario Isola’s technicians with out realizing the compounds and constructions of the tires that will likely be utilized in experimental type.
We all know Lewis’s idiosyncrasies throughout exams, however the two-day Iberian session will likely be essential to start out evaluating the 2026 tires and to offer suggestions to Loic Serra’s technical workers concerning the driving sensations with the prototype tires. His suggestions and that of Charles might show invaluable in providing Ferrari’s engineers helpful insights for the design of venture 678.
If setup changes are dominated out, following the choice to keep up a steady setup for the 2 days, Hamilton may have the chance to understand the qualities of the 066/12 with the most recent digital administration not solely of the hybrid system, discovering a greater really feel with the clutch launch now that the telemetry has acquired all the info from his begins and different essential parameters to be fine-tuned intimately.
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