Ferrari have been very busty since last weekend's Emilia Romagna GP, as Carlos Sainz, Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott completed hundreds of kilometres around Ferrari's own test track in Fiorano. They have been using the 2018 Ferrari machine which means the Italian manufacturer are not breaching any testing regulations. FIA rules state that there are no restrictions for teams to test cars as long as they are more than two-years-old. RacingNews365.com asked Ferrari why they are doing so much testing and their response was, "because it is possible".
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Look who’s here 😎 Ciao @Carlossainz55 👋 #SF71H #essereFerrari 🔴 pic.twitter.com/MWSKfq4OeO — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 21, 2021
For Sainz, testing the SF-71 gives him a chance to work with the engineers and even though the 2021 car is a completely different machine, he may still learn something that could benefit him during a race weekend. With pre-season testing limited to just three days this year, Ferrari will not lose anything from testing Sainz in an older car and have everything to gain - even if it's a minor advantage. This is F1, and it's always been about marginal gains. Testing with older cars does not count towards the budget cap of $145m. The big advantage Ferrari have is the ability to test on their own track whereas other teams would have to rent a circuit in order to do the same thing. It will be interesting to see whether the rest of the grid decide to test two-year-old cars in the future and whether Ferrari will continue to test throughout the season.
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