Formula 1 | Ferrari, the story of Thursday's activities in Sakhir

Formula 1 GP Bahrain Ferrari – Scuderia Ferrari completed a total of 101 laps in Thursday's free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit. In the first of the two hours of track time Charles and Carlos only used Medium compound tyres, fitting only the Softs in the second.

Both worked hard on the set-up with both tomorrow's qualifying and Saturday's Grand Prix in mind. Among the variables to take into account in evaluating what was seen on the track today, the wind that characterized the session held in sunlight, and the temperatures, lower than expected, that drivers and teams found in the second round, under the spotlight.

Ferrari, focus on medium tires in the first free practice sessions

As mentioned, in the first session, like many other drivers, Charles and Carlos ran only with Medium tires obtaining the best times respectively of 1'33"268, eighth place, six hundredths away from the best time obtained with the same compound, while Carlos he stopped the clock with a 1'33”385 valid for eleventh place. In the final minutes, both SF-24s were loaded with fuel to allow the pilots to run in race configuration until the checkered flag.

The errors ruin the afternoon's qualifying simulation

In the second session, the most representative because it was held on time and in conditions similar to those of qualifying and the race, the Ferrari drivers repeated a program similar to that of the first hour but based on the Soft compound. In the flying lap simulation, tackled first, the fastest of the two was Carlos who set the fourth best time in 1'30”769. Charles, however, was slowed down by traffic and was unable to do better than 1'31”113 (ninth time). In the second part of the session the two Ferrari drivers loaded up on fuel to run in race configuration.

Saturday activity in Bahrain

This evening the team will work on the data collected to refine the set-up of the SF-24, which has room to improve on the flying lap and must refine the race pace. Friday's Bahrain Grand Prix will see the drivers on track at 15.30pm local time (13.30pm CET) for the last free practice session in preparation for qualifying at 19pm (17pm CET).