A secret Ferrari test took place in Hungary for Rafa Câmara and Dino Beganovic. Is the Brazilian driver now ready to get behind the wheel of the SF-26?
In complete secrecy, Ferrari organized a test session at the Hungaroring in Hungary with the SF-25 for the two Formula 2 drivers from the Ferrari Driver Academy. The TPC sessions took place ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, where both young drivers will race in Montréal with Invicta Racing and DAMS.
During the F1 season, each team must provide four free practice sessions to rookie drivers, and the two FDA drivers are among the candidates expected to take the wheel of the SF-26. However, a problem has emerged due to the calendar reduction caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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Teams often use Bahrain as the ideal circuit to hand over FP1 sessions to rookies, since preseason testing already provides extensive data for simulator work and car setup correlation. Now, the first truly logical opportunity appears to be the Friday of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, one of the circuits where risks can be minimized and where teams already possess a huge amount of historical data.
Cadillac, for example, has already announced that Colton Herta will drive during the Catalonia weekend.
According to several reports, however, teams are evaluating a reduction in rookie running hours precisely because of the two canceled races.
Meanwhile, Ferrari continues to give Rafa Câmara every opportunity to prepare himself and be ready for his first laps behind the wheel of the SF-26.
Photos’ credits Invicta Racing
