Ferrari have tweaked their driver schedule for Thursday and Friday, the final two days of the second and final Formula 1 preseason test at Circuit de Catalunya, after Sebastian Vettel shunted the SF90 on Wednesday.
The Scuderia announced, “Testing continues until the end of Friday and the team has decided to have its drivers do a complete day each at the wheel, so that the work can progress in a more linear fashion. Charles will drive tomorrow, before handing over to Sebastian for the final day.”
The pair were set to share the car on all four days of the final test.
Vettel was second on the timing screens, with 40 laps under his belt in the morning session when a “mechanical failure” forced him off the circuit at high speed, rendering him a passenger as the F90 crunched into the TecPro wall.
The team added of their wrecked 2019 challenger, “Once back in the garage, the team set about a meticulous check of the car to establish the cause of the crash. The analysis is still on course.
“Meanwhile, the SF90 was repaired in time for Charles Leclerc to get out in the afternoon for an installation lap,” added the team report.
After a trouble-free first week in Spain, Ferrari have had two days packed with problems, starting on Tuesday when Leclerc was sidelined by a technical issue which required lengthy repairs.
Their rivals Mercedes had a strong Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas combining to amass 176 laps on the day for the W10. A day earlier Bottas lost track time when the team needed to swap PUs.