The Formula 1 teams are allowed to cover 100 kilometers twice a year on a track on Pirelli demo tires for PR and film purposes. Ferrari has put its cars on the track in Monza, Italy. The new package that had been prepared for the Spanish Grand Prix was used. Ferrari admits Film Day helped.
The upgrades paid off in Spain: Charles Leclerc took pole position while Carlos Sainz secured third place on the grid. In the race, however, Leclerc was very unlucky when he had a technical defect while he was clearly in the lead.
Sainz still saved Ferrari to fourth place. Despite the setbacks in the race, the updates that had been tried earlier on film day worked.
Ferrari in particular already had important data ready compared to the competition, while all other teams were only able to evaluate the first information in free practice. Like Ferrari, Mercedes saved a film day for the first upgrades. George Russell was driving the W13 in Le Castellet, France, on the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Claudio Albertini, chassis manager at Ferrari, says: “You can only drive 100 kilometers in one day of a film, which is very little. Nevertheless, it is useful because you can still do a few laps and try out some maneuvers that are on the route with other cars are not possible.”
Ferrari fuels self-confidence
According to Albertini, the team gained self-confidence at the film day and made the most of the little time on the track. “It’s important because then you get confidence in your work and you have a clear direction on the track,” he says. “We just have to get the maximum out of it.”
Trying it out then continued in free practice in Spain: In Barcelona, Leclerc and Sainz were out and about with different packages in the first session. Sainz alone got all the new updates installed. “So we could compare the cars,” explains Albertini. “One car has all the innovations, the other only a part of the updates.”
While the data was compared in the first practice session, the cars were then adjusted and equated in the second free practice session. “This way you get a better impression of the simulated data, which we can then measure in reality. The check on Friday was positive, which is why both cars were then equipped with the latest updates,” says Albertini. Both Ferraris also came up with all the innovations in qualifying.