Ferrari is back in Barcelona to carry out the Pirelli tire tests as reported a few days ago. Frederic Vasseur’s team will be driving together with McLaren on the Montmelò circuit .
Both Leclerc and Hamilton will be available Pirelli, who will also have the benefit of conducting these tests with cars from last season. The SF-24 and MCL38 (when McLaren participated in these tests) have suspension modifications to adapt to the new 2026 tyres. This adjustments have also been made to simulate the loads generated by the 2026 cars.
But that’s not all, because Ferrari have also prepared the SF-23 for Charles Leclerc.
Both Ferrari drivers on track: Charles Leclerc makes up for lost time with the SF-23, while Lewis Hamilton dedicates himself exclusively to Pirelli testing
As reported previously, Ferrari brought two cars, the SF-23 and the SF-24, to Barcelona. This has allowed the Scuderia to complete TPC testing and then Pirelli’s test program.
The two days of training on the 2023 car ended prematurely with Lewis Hamilton’s accident. Though Hamilton wasn’t harmed in the crash, the damaged SF-23 prevented Leclerc from taking to the track on the same day.
Ferrari decided not to recover the lost time the following day, focusing on their program that included giving track time to Antonio Giovinazzi and Dino Beganovic, who thus debuted in a Ferrari .
However, they did not want to deprive Charles Leclerc of a training session ahead of 2025. The 26-year-old already partially missed the Fiorano tests due to sub-optimal weather conditions.
Because of this, the engineers have prepared the SF-23 again for a TPC test session . This will give the Monegasque a chance to take to the track at Montmelò and make up for the time lost last week.
Credits: Scuderia Ferrari
There will, therefore, be 3 cars seen running in Barcelona . The SF-23 with Charles Leclerc and the SF-24 with Lewis Hamilton – who will then pass the baton to his teammate, to also carry out the Pirelli tests.
After this, McLaren MCL38 will also participate in the tests with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the wheel.
To simulate what the loads of the 2026 cars will be, the cars haven’t only been given modified suspensions.
As previously revealed , very low-load set-ups will be used to replicate the expected loss of load onto the track in 2026.
Ferrari will with a low-load SF-24 configuration in Barcelona. From a purely technical perspective, this would make no sense. However, this is all an effort to replicate the expected loss of load in 2026 – currently estimated at 20% .
