Ferrari will stage a test for drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz later this month, mirroring their preparations for the 2022 season.
Ferrari ran a test at their Fiorano test track this time last year in preparation for the 2022 season. It paid off for the Italians, who enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign before other factors led to the collapse of their title challenge as the year went on.
Perhaps feeling they benefitted from that test, Leclerc and Sainz will do the same thing again in the final week of January. They will have a day each to drive the SF21 – the car used in the 2021 championship.
The three-day test will also see them joined by a couple of Ferrari's other racers. Reserve drivers Robert Schwartzman and Antonio Giovinazzi will spend half-a-day each driving the car, ahead of their World Endurance Championship duties this year.
The test will not only give the drivers an opportunity to get back into the swing of things, but also their new boss. Frederic Vasseur will get his first chance as Ferrari team principal to see how the team operates when cars are on track.
Ferrari are not the only team set to get in some early running this year. Mercedes, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri will hit the track in early February – travelling to Jerez to take part in a Pirelli tyre test.
It will give Lewis Hamilton and George Russell a chance to shake off any rust they may have picked up over the winter break. Fernando Alonso and Nyck de Vries may also have the chance to get in some more running time with their new teams.
"There will be some tests, not with all the teams," said Pirelli's chief F1 engineer Simone Berra. "We asked the availability to them, and some of them replied.
"We will work mainly on the intermediate and wets, because for us it's the best period of the year to test in cold temperatures and in representative conditions. And then we will have even a couple of tests for the slicks for the new specification for 2024."
