Pirelli's 2018 tyre development progamme had Ferrari testing for the Italian manufacturer at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona at the end of this week.
Initially, Scuderia reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi was to handle driving duties on his own, but a technical problem with the team's SF70H severely limited running on Thursday.
Ferrari subsequently decided to extend its running on Friday and undertake a whopping 1,200km programme, adding Charles Leclerc to its driving force in order to give Giovinazzi a bit of respite.
Needless to say, Ferrari engineers will have been very interested in comparing the performance and technical feedback of the two young chargers relative to each other and in similar running conditions.
Extending Kimi Raikkonen's contract for 2018 appears to be a mere formality for the Scuderia, but the Italian outfit will need to decide which of its juniors - Giovinazzi or Leclerc - will likely join Sauber next season, Ferrari's de facto junior team.
Was yesterday's test a shootout between the two hopefuls? In hindsight it may well have been...
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
McLaren could be set to enjoy an earlier-than-expected injection of Red Bull expertise, with Zak…
Christian Horner lost his Red Bull empire during the summer of 2025, but it has…
Williams boss James Vowles has offered a remarkably candid explanation for his team’s miserable 2026…
Valtteri Bottas has officially arrived in Singapore – although most F1 drivers would probably have…
Christian Horner’s forthcoming autobiography has already reopened old wounds at Red Bull, and Helmut Marko…
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed that George Russell will be consigned to the…