Ferrari Runs Three Drivers in Friday Practice at Barcelona Grand Prix
Scuderia Ferrari HP completed its Friday programme at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with three drivers, including young driver Dino Beganovic.
117
1'15"799
1'16"631
What Happened
Scuderia Ferrari HP completed its programme on Friday at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, running three drivers over the course of the day. Lewis Hamilton was replaced in the first session by Ferrari Driver Academy driver Dino Beganovic, in compliance with the regulation requiring each race driver to hand over their car twice during the season to a young driver with no more than two Grands Prix starts. In FP1, the team carried out a comparison programme, fitting the aerodynamic upgrades introduced here in Spain to Charles Leclerc’s car, while Dino’s SF-26 ran the previous specification.
- Best lap: 1'16"883
- Best lap: 1'17"778
117laps
Across both practice sessions, the team gathered extensive data.
“It was an interesting day. We have a few new items on the car and we’ve made a step forward. Regarding competitiveness, it’s too early to say and I think our competitors are quite a bit ahead of us.”
“My only session today was quite a challenging one: we had an issue with the front wing which made things a bit more complicated, particularly in terms of tyre preparation, and missing FP1 meant I was a bit on the back foot. There is still some work to do, but we've gathered useful data and we'll focus on making the right improvements overnight.”
Why this matters
Ferrari used Friday practice to test aerodynamic upgrades and prepare for qualifying, while also giving a young driver track time as required by regulations.
Terms in This Story
- FP1
- Free Practice 1, the first practice session of a Grand Prix weekend.
- FP2
- Free Practice 2, the second practice session.
- Soft tyres
- The softest tyre compound, offering the most grip but least durability.
- Medium tyres
- A medium tyre compound, balancing grip and durability.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.