New Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was at Fiorano today to watch Charles Leclerc put the SF21 (their 2021 Formula 1 car) through its paces during the third day of “wake up” tests at the team’s private test track.
Of course, they are waking up to a new season under a new boss, who spent time in the pits while Leclerc busied himself testing on the third and final day on track for the Reds this week.
The Monegasque took to the track at 10 o’clock on the dot for an installation lap on rain tyres, before switching to slicks. With much better track conditions than on the previous days, Charles was able to complete the 56-lap programme prior to the lunch break under the watchful eye of Vasseur and Carlos Sainz.
In the afternoon, still on slicks, Leclerc brought the day’s total number of laps to 123, equivalent to 366 kilometres.
On Wednesday, Ferrari reported Carlos Sainz was on track for the second day of the ‘wake-up’ test run by the Scuderia at Fiorano. He reacquainted himself with his first Maranello F1 car, the SF21, which he was particularly keen on, heading out onto a wet track with rain tyres.
On day two Sainz covered 26 laps in the morning
Again conditions were far from ideal because of the cold and damp, as the day began to dry out, the Spaniard tried slicks but was soon back on the Wets because of a lack of grip, It rained again in the afternoon at Fiorano, so the team decided not to take any unnecessary risks, sending Carlos out on Wets once again.
He was eventually able to run slicks, doing 93 laps making a total of 119 for the day, equivalent to 354 kilometres. Ferrari Driver Academy students Maya Weug and Arthur Leclerc were observing from the garage.
On Tuesday, the opening day of the ‘wake-up cal’l Robert Shwartzman, who this year shares the role of Ferrari development and reserve driver with Antonio Giovinazzi, completed only a few laps in the morning, as the track was far from being at its best in the wet and extremely cold conditions.
By lunchtime, he had completed 35 laps on rain tyres. In the afternoon another short spell of rain slowed the programme again, but Robert still managed to do a further 52 laps, also on rain tyres for his final run, making a total of 77 laps for the day, equal to 259 kilometres.
The final test day today was the first ‘public event’ attended by Vasseur since he took the helm at Maranello in the wake of Mattia Binotto’s departure at the end of last year; the newly installed Frenchman is now tasked to take Ferrari back to F1 title-winning ways.
Ciao Fred 👋 pic.twitter.com/3PEbjuMaXi
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) January 26, 2023