Formula 1 teams are putting the finishing touches on their car designs for the 2022 season before putting them on track at the first tests in Barcelona from February 23.
Despite the fact that no team has finished its single-seater yet, Sainz suggested that he has been able to see part of the design that the Ferrari will have to learn about the change that the 2022 F1 will bring.
After a day of testing at Fiorano with the SF71H, the Spaniard said he was keen for his team to finally reveal their “secret”.
“I’ve seen it in many PowerPoint presentations and in the wind tunnel,” said the driver from Madrid. “The 2022 car is very different to what we have seen in recent years in Formula 1.
“I’m also impatient to show it to all the tifosi . It’s like we have a secret, but we want to tell it as soon as possible, we’ll see, it won’t be long.”
“I want to show the car to all the fans, but also to get behind the wheel as soon as possible,” explained the fifth-place finisher from last season.
His Maranello team-mate, Charles Leclerc, said he was just as excited to find out how the new Ferrari would perform once it hits the track for the first time in Barcelona.
“2022 is going to be a very important year,” said the Monegasque. “It’s a very special campaign because we have a completely new car, and I want to be at the first tests in Barcelona to test it.”
“I hope that with all the work we have done in the last year to get to this point it will make us as competitive as we all want,” Leclerc said.
Although the pair of drivers rolled with the 2018 F1 on the circuit next to the Italian factory due to the uncertainty about the rules of the tests for this course, they had reasons to return to the cockpit.
Sainz maintained that it was good to “shake” the body to remember what it was like to drive a car with these characteristics: “It is always useful, but it is also very fun to try a 2018 car.”
“It helps a lot because as a sportsman and a driver, you take the first hit in the body. It’s just like: ‘wow, yeah, I’m an F1 driver, I need to drive this beast!'” said the Spaniard.
“You also have to punish the neck, the lower back, the buttocks, everything so that the body reminds itself that it is that of an F1 driver and that it is tough.”
“For the mind, it’s useful to get used to the speeds we’re running again, to talk to the engineers, develop the set-up, try to do it to my liking. It’s back on a circuit, and it’s always a lot of fun.” settled.
