Testing – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished P3 on the timesheets on Tuesday, with his best time set on the Soft tyres.
Vettel was at the wheel of the SF71-H for Tuesday’s track time, which he made the most of by putting in 136 laps. This is more than twice the distance of a Grand Prix at the circuit as Ferrari attempted to understand why their car was so off the pace at Catalunya.
Having been forced to use Pirelli tyres with reduced tread depth over the Grand Prix weekend, Ferrari say they tested both types of compound on Tuesday – the original from pre-season and in use up until Azerbaijan, as well as the spec brought for Spain. They haven’t clarified when either was used specifically on track, but say their best time of the day was done on the original spec Soft tyre – the one not available for use during the Grand Prix.
Apart from that, Ferrari tried out various development ideas on the car, but Vettel says none of these were done with Monaco in mind, the next race, as ‘that race is too much of a one-off. Let’s say we got some ideas and now we have to turn them into reality.”
“We learned various things on how to work on track like this one . We know we have a strong car,” he said before leaving the circuit and heading for home.
Tomorrow, Antonio Giovinazzi takes over at the wheel of the SF71-H, having driven for customer team Sauber on Tuesday.
