(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ferrari must pay a fine of 10,000 euros after the Free Practice for the Formula 1 race in Spa-Francorchamps because the team did not adhere to the organizational procedure and did not return one set of tires per car to manufacturer Pirelli in time before the start of the second practice session.
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After the end of the 1st Free Practice, Ferrari had properly declared the return of two sets of slicks each for the cars of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the electronic system. Thus, the team initially fulfilled its obligation according to Articles B6.4.1 and B6.3.8 of the Sporting Regulations.
The mistake happened afterwards: The tires were not physically handed over to the official tire supplier Pirelli before the start of FP2. Since the tires were still in the Ferrari garage at the beginning of the afternoon session, this was a clear violation of Article B6.4.2.
At Ferrari, the error was attributed to “inattention.” Since it is purely an administrative offense, the team only receives a fine – there are no sporting consequences for the starting grid positions of Hamilton and Leclerc on Sunday.
How Ferrari’s Friday went
Apart from the bureaucratic error in tire return, Ferrari largely carried out its planned sporting test program smoothly on Friday in Spa-Francorchamps. The team used the two hours to analyze the behavior of the SF-26 on the medium and soft compounds and to refine both qualifying and long-run pace.
In the first session of the weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc started on the yellow-marked medium tires and each completed nine laps before switching to the soft compound.
On the red tires, the cars were extremely evenly matched: Hamilton set the team’s internal reference time with a 1:47.215, which was good enough for second place, Leclerc followed with a gap of just 62 thousandths of a second. Towards the end of the session, both drivers completed long runs on used tires with different strategies – soft for Hamilton, medium for Leclerc.
The second training in the afternoon was much more fragmented. After a solid start on the medium tires, the session was interrupted early because a competitor had brought gravel onto the track.
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After the restart, both drivers put on fresh soft tires. Hamilton underlined the team’s ambitions and set the fourth fastest time of the afternoon with 1:46.691.
The session went significantly less well for Charles Leclerc: The Monegasque burned a 1:47.035 into the asphalt, which would have been good for seventh place – however, his lap time was deleted due to exceeding track limits at Eau Rouge. On his second attempt, the tires were already past their peak, so in the end only a 1:47.468 and eleventh place were recorded.
“We put a lot of work in throughout the day, and regarding our competitiveness, there is definitely still room for improvement,” says Leclerc. “We will fine-tune our setup before tomorrow and work on extracting a bit more lap time for qualifying.”
Hamilton: Need to improve in the middle sector
The planned final part with important race simulations was then massively affected by a second red flag after an accident by Pierre Gasly. Since the track was only reopened two minutes before the end, there was only time for one last installation lap.
“I think the first practice looked a bit stronger than we expected, and in the second practice everyone stepped up and made another step forward,” says Hamilton. “Otherwise, the car generally feels good on the track, but we are missing a bit in the middle sector, so we are trying to figure out why.”
The seven-time world champion already has a first explanation ready: “It feels a bit like it’s related to downforce. The balance is generally good. You would like to give the car more downforce if you could, but then you also need top speed on the straights,” he says.
“So tonight we will dive deep into the analysis to find out how we can improve in this middle sector without hopefully losing on the straights.”
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