Ferrari in 'dreamland' but still facing 'a very, very long list'

Ferrari chief race engineer Matteo Togninalli has revealed the Scuderia faces "a very, very long list" it needs to complete over the remainder of this week's pre-season test in Barcelona, despite the "dream" of its first day of running.

After skipping the first day at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, Ferrari hit the track with its SF-26 on Tuesday, with Charles Leclerc behind the wheel in dry conditions that only lasted for the initial 90 minutes.

Despite the wet weather that followed for the remainder of the day, including when Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon, the duo still managed to clock 120 laps between them, a total of 561 kilometres.

In terms of early reliability, Ferrari could not have wished for a better start to its test programme, which Togninalli stated was the "most important point" as the team "completed its programme".

Togninalli added: "Performance-wise, it's far too early. We are trying to understand the car, fine-tune the car. It's more about putting laps on it. So I'm positive."

As for the checklist for the remainder of the week, he said: "We will carry on with understanding the car. The first step is understanding and learning because it is a completely new car - tyres, aerodynamic behaviour, power unit behaviour.

"Then, step by step, we will try to optimise, looking forward to Bahrain. We are expecting the next few days to be dry, so it will be good to run in the dry, and it will be good and useful to have others to compare with. 

"But we will focus on ourselves, and we have a long list of things to sign off - measurements, characterisation, test items, setup. It's a very, very long list."

Togninalli maintains the undertaking by Ferrari "has been huge", claiming the Scuderia "started years ago with the power unit", and then, obviously, at the start of last year, looking at the new bodywork.

Overall, though, Togninalli could not be happier. "We have all arrived very tight to this test," he said. "You can see teams not running, or they couldn't run because they're a bit tight with parts and car preparation.

"But people have done a good job, completing a good number in terms of mileage. If you look back to the new regulations in the past, it was like a dream to complete over 600 kilometres in one day.

"So positive in that respect. For the rest [of testing], we will have to wait and see how things go."