Fast Start For Ferrari At Imola

Scuderia Ferrari HP enjoyed a good, trouble-free Friday. The day’s programme was packed, based on evaluating the update package on the SF-24 which is making its debut here and on setting up the car on a complicated track, especially with the new gravel traps that are much less forgiving of mistakes.

The new parts on the car worked as expected, and Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were competitive, both on a single flying lap – Leclerc quickest in both sessions – as well as in terms of race pace. Of course, it’s only Friday and it is too early to get carried away, but the weekend on track has at least got off to a good start.

FP1. In the early afternoon, Carlos and Charles started off on the Hard tyre, running until the session was red-flagged when Alex Albon stopped his Williams on track. When it resumed, both Ferrari drivers went out on Soft tyres with which they set their best times, Leclerc in 1’16”990 and Sainz in 1’17”120. The Monegasque completed a total of 30 laps, while the Spaniard did 25.

FP2. In the second session, they both went out first on the Medium tyre before switching to the Softs on which they set their best times. Once again Leclerc topped the time sheet in 1’15”906, while Sainz was never able to put together a perfect lap, stopping the clocks in 1’16”423. In the final third of the session, both drivers then took on a heavier fuel load to run in race trim on the Medium tyres. Charles did 29 laps, Carlos 30.

Tonight, work will continue on fine-tuning the set-up for qualifying which takes place at 16.00 CEST, preceded by the final free practice hour at 12.30.

Charles Leclerc

‘It has been a positive day overall. Everything went smoothly and we ran all the tests we planned on track. We seem to be pretty competitive for now, however the conditions will change quite a bit tomorrow, especially in terms of the wind, so we will have to anticipate that.

‘The updates seem to be working as expected, which is another positive. It was great to see so many red flags in the grandstands!’

Carlos Sainz

‘A good Friday for the team. We had a strong FP1 and in FP2 we made some changes that seem to go in the right direction and I was reasonably happy with the car. I didn’t put together a clean lap with the Soft but I’m confident we are in a good place.

‘After two Sprint weekends it was good to have time to test and try different approaches on the car, especially having a new package here. There’s still a bit of work to do before qualifying but I’m already looking forward to tomorrow.’