Friday free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix was particularly busy for Scuderia Ferrari HP. Apart from the usual tasks of looking at set-up, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc worked on evaluating aerodynamic updates which have been introduced ahead of schedule, thanks to a great effort from the team back in Maranello over the past few weeks. Performance over a single lap produced interesting results on both SF-24s, but there is still work to do to get the most out of the car in terms of both qualifying and race pace.
FP1. At the start of the afternoon, Carlos and Charles took to the Barcelona-Catalunya track tasked with evaluating the updates, running different configurations to each other. Sainz ran the new components while Leclerc had only the latest specification of rear wing while the rest of the car was left in standard configuration. The drivers ran identical programmes so that the comparison could be made, starting on Hard tyres before switching to the Mediums. With these, Sainz was third fastest in 1’14”572, but Leclerc had to abort his quick lap because of a red flag triggered by Fernando Alonso. At the restart, with his tyres no longer at their very best, the Monegasque posted a 1’15”434. For the final part of the session, both cars were fuelled up and ran with Medium tyres. Between them they completed 57 laps, 31 for Carlos and 26 for Charles.
FP2. The second session started at 17.00 with both SF-24s running the same configuration, with the entire upgrade package fitted. They started on Medium tyres before switching to Softs, on which they set their personal best times, Sainz second quickest in 1’13”286, with Leclerc posting a 1’13”597. In the final third of the hour, both cars once again ran a heavy fuel load to run in race trim. 52 laps completed, 30 for Carlos, 22 for Charles.
Analysis and fine-tuning. Tonight, the team will analyse all the data in great detail, focussing on what needs to be done to optimise the car package for qualifying and the race. Tomorrow’s final free practice, which starts at 12.30 CEST, will therefore be particularly important prior to qualifying at 16.00.
Carlos Sainz #55
Quite a tricky Friday, as always here in Barcelona when the sun is up and the track changes quite quickly. We struggled a bit in both sessions to get the right balance on the car, but I think everyone had similar issues today. So overall, I’m reasonably happy with the car, but we have work to do, especially race pace-wise. What I really enjoyed today was the atmosphere at the track. Thank you to all the fans for their support. I’m looking forward to putting on a good show tomorrow!
Charles Leclerc #16
Overall, a tricky day on my side. We struggled quite a bit with the balance of the car, so set-up work will be our main focus ahead of tomorrow. We ran a new package in FP2, but we still have lots of work to do as I am not fully comfortable yet.