Ferrari 'wakes up' for the new season at Fiorano

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The Ferrari team has been holding its traditional three day 'wake up test' to launch the new racing year, with outings for Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Shwartzman at the team's test track in Fiorano.

With a few weeks to go before the official unveiling of this year's new car, the drivers were handed the keys to the two-year-old SF-21 model instead - the one originally driven by Sainz and Charles Leclerc in 2021.

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Teams aren't allowed to use newer specification cars in private tests, other than very limited running on 'filming days' intended to produce sponsorship and marketing footage.

Although it failed failed to win a race all season, the SF-21 did mark a renaissance for the team after its terrible performance the previous year.

And it proved a good choice to blow away the cobwebs this week, with official development and reserve driver Robert Shwartzman completing a total of 87 laps (259km) in tricky wet and cold conditions before the team called it a day.

The 2021 Formula 2 runner-up will share reserve duties this season with Ferrari Hypercar driver Antonio Giovinazzi. On hand to observe the activity were Ferrari Driver Academy students Arthur Leclerc, Maya Weug and newcomer Aurelia Nobels.

Wednesday was Sainz's turn to get back to work after the Christmas and New Year holidays, the Spaniard completing a total of 119 laps in the wet to dry conditions. Leclerc is scheduled to take over for the final day of testing on Thursday.

The private 'wake up test' has become something of a tradition for Ferrari, and has proved useful for drivers, mechanics and engineers alike to get back into the swing of things.

This year's yet-untitled Ferrari will be unveiled on February 14 and will join those of other teams in the three-day pre-season test in Bahrain on February 23-25. The first race of the season takes place at the same venue on March 5.

AlphaTauri was also in action on Tuesday at nearby Imola, with Yuki Tsunoda driving the AT02.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.