“It was very busy and very intense” – Team principal Mattia Binotto has given his verdict on Ferrari’s pre-season testing in Bahrain, ahead of the season-opener later this month.
The major technical and sporting regulation changes will take place from next year, but the new aerodynamic regulations is already playing its part, depending on the car rake.
Teams with a high rake design like Red Bull and AlphaTauri did well in the pre-season testing. Conversely, teams with low rake like Aston Martin and Mercedes struggled. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has had a say on this, and their preparation for it.
“It has been a big change for all the teams. If you look at the overall amount of aero performance we have lost it is significant, and it has been difficult to recover all of it. It has been a big change but I don’t think it favours one or the other solutions. Each car has its own concept, and you always try to optimise yourself around it.
“So I think it’s pretty neutral on the various concepts but obviously you should try to have a comparison yourself and that is something we’ve not done.”
Mattia Binotto content with Ferrari’s pre-season testing
Ferrari had a decent outing in Bahrain, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz getting an extensive run out. It was more crucial for Carlos Sainz, as he makes his debut this season. Binotto is happy with the information received, as he prepares to lead the team for yet another season.
“We knew that with only three days it was going to be very busy and very intense, and it was very busy and very intense. The main priority was to understand car behavior and in all the conditions. That is where we focused our energy.
“We collected a lot of data which now needs to be analysed to understand the correlations with the wind tunnel etcetera. In terms of data measurements, all went very smooth, we made mileage and followed our plane.”
