Ferrari to Begin Testing Early to Gain an Advantage Over Rivals

Ferrari is understood to be planning to give its 2019 Formula 1 car its on-track debut the day before the start of pre-season testing.

Ferrari’s 2019 car, known ‘670’ will be officially launched at the team’s Maranello headquarters on February 15.

Two days later the Italian team intends to utilise one of its two permitted promotional events to run the car, like it did last year. This will be ahead of the first four-day tests at the Barcelona circuit, which will begin on February 18.

Teams are allowed to conduct two promotional events per season. F1 regulations state that these days must take place purely for marketing or promotional purposes, with a maximum of 100km of running and using special demonstration-specification Pirelli tyres.

However, they are also a useful way of checking for any potential setbacks before the start of testing that would jeopardise crucial pre-season mileage.

The news follows last week’s unexpected departure of Ferrari’s Team Prinicipal Maurizio Arrivabene. After four years, Arrivabene left the team after lengthy discussions amongst the company’s top management. .

Chief Technical Officer, Mattia Binotto, took over as Scuderia Ferrari’s Team Principal with immediate effect. All technical areas are continuing to be reported directly to Binotto.

Last year, the Italian team used the same tactic to utilise one of its two permitted promotional events to shake down its car before the first of two tests at the Barcelona circuit.

Should Ferrari face any delays to its planned promotional work on the morning of February 17, it is expected to postpone the filming day until after the first test is completed.

Ferrari customer team Sauber has also been linked with an early shakedown.

A promotional event at Ferrari’s Italian test track Fiorano has been rumoured for February 14.