Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has confirmed that Carlos Sainz will complete the first laps for the team in the 2018 car this month.
After a successful two-year stint at McLaren, Sainz moved to Ferrari for the upcoming season to become Charles Leclerc’s partner.
In an effort to reduce costs and reflect the important behavior of parts from 2020 to ’21, there is only one three-day pre-season test this year, meaning that each driver will have only one and a half days of time
To make sure Sainz is as prepared as possible, Ferrari will allow time in Fiorano ‘s two – year – old engines to get to know its new engineers and team methods. Date not yet confirmed.
“He’ll have a one-and-a-half-day winter test, but we’re also planning to do some testing for him, last day, or a little more, in January, in Fiorano,” Binotto said.
“It will be with an old car, an ’18 car because that is what is possible and allowed by rules. The January test for the first friction with a Ferrari car will be on the way.
“It’s an old car but we feel it’s important to get used to our procedures. The way we communicate with engineers, to get the feel of the its engineers and its own team and that’s the way we organize it. ”
Binotto also confirmed that Leclerc will retain the engineering team with which it has worked for the past two years, with Sainz owning those who worked with Vettel. Binotto said: “His team was ultimately and essentially Sebastian [Vettel], which is given to him directly.
“So Ricardo Adami, for example, the race engineer, is growing into Carlos’ race engineer and at the moment, at least, there are no new engineers coming from outside to join the team. his way. “