Testing in Formula 1 is strictly policed, with teams only able to run their cars during the pre-season sessions, official race weekend practice sessions, in-season Pirelli tyre tests, and rookie tests. Outside of this, the teams have the ability to run 100km with a current car as part of a 'Promotional Event' (often referred to as a filming day) for media content, which is usually how they spend their post-car launch shakedown. Ferrari have not exploited any loophole or grey area in the regulations, but they have utilised a clever capability in the rules that avoids them wasting their allowance for a filming day.
Ferrari run SF-23 in 'demonstration event'
Teams also have the ability to run a 'Demonstration Event' for current-year cars, though these must not exceed 15km. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz completed five laps around the 2.997km Maranello test track with the laps being split between the pair, as Leclerc completed two and Sainz three to ensure they stayed below the maximum amount. Even though it was a limited amount of running, both drivers explained how they were able to give initial feedback to their engineers ahead of the proper 100km of running and the grind of pre-season testing at Bahrain.
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