Barcelona Test 1 - Day 3: Sebastian brings the first test to an end

The final day of the first pre-season test at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit turned out to be more demanding than expected for Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow. Sebastian Vettel completed a total of 100 laps, equivalent to 465.5 kilometres, which was less than planned, because of a problem with the power unit on the SF1000, midway through the morning.

40 laps. The German started his day at 9 on the dot, putting in some constant speed laps to acquire specific data. Sebastian then continued running to evaluate the SF1000 in various configurations, using the C2 and C3 compound tyres and it was on the latter that he set his best time in 1:18.384. 

Vettel did another run shortly before 10.30 but after a few laps there was a problem with the power unit. The team told Vettel to park the car immediately at the side of the track, to limit the damage so that a thorough investigation of the problem could be carried out later. Once back in the garage, the team immediately got on with changing the power unit, sending the damaged one straight off to Maranello. At this point, Vettel had done 40 laps.

Afternoon. At 14.18 the SF1000 was ready for action again and Vettel continued with the programme, doing some practice starts. In the afternoon, the German did a further 60 laps, bringing the day’s total to 100. In his day and a half at the wheel, Seb completed 173 laps, equivalent to 805 kilometres (almost three race distances). In its first three days on track, the SF1000 did 354 laps, or 1,648 kilometres. The second and final pre-season test takes place from next Wednesday, again for three days at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. The first Grand Prix of the 2020 Formula 1 season takes place in Australia on 15th March.

Mattia Binotto Team Principal

"We adopted a radically different approach to this first pre-season test compared to last year’s. So far, we have concentrated on evaluating every aspect of the car’s potential, running several different configurations, both aero and mechanical, so as to gather as much data as possible.

We will now go home and analyse it all, comparing it to that gathered in the simulations we ran on the computer and on the actual simulator we have in Maranello.

In next week’s test, we will begin to investigate the performance side, working on set-up and moving forward with the usual tests in qualifying and race trim in order to be well prepared for the opening round in Australia."