Ferrari set date for first Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz 2024 run out

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will climb into a Ferrari F1 car for the first time this year at the end of this month as they get set for the 2024 season.

Both drivers will be in Barcelona at the end of January as they drive last season’s SF-23 as part of a tyre test for Pirelli, one of the few opportunities for teams to get out on track.

They will be sharing the duties as both look to get used to being back behind an F1 wheel ahead of the season start in just over a month.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz given Ferrari track dates

Leclerc and Sainz will be taking to the Catalan track on January 29 and 30 but it will be a special day for the Leclerc family with Arthur also driving on the first day. He will be in the F1-75 after he became the team’s newest development driver.

There will be another new face in the garage as well as Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman steps up to a reserve role. His running will come on the 31st, again in the F1-75 – the team’s 2022 car.

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The confirmation of their tests can be seen as another step on Ferrari’s journey to the start of the 2024 season.

It comes just a few days after star driver Leclerc signed a new multi-year deal to stay with the team he has driven 104 races for since 2019.

“I’m very pleased to know that I will be wearing the Scuderia Ferrari race suit for several more seasons to come,” Leclerc said.

“To race for this team has been my dream since I was three years old: I used to watch the Monaco Grand Prix from the window of a friend’s apartment at Ste. Devote corner and I would always look out for the red cars.

“This team is my second family ever since I joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2016 and we have achieved a lot together, fighting through thick and thin over the past five years.

“However, I believe the best is yet to come and I can’t wait for this season to start, to make further progress and be competitive at every race. My dream remains that of winning the World Championship with Ferrari and I’m sure that in the years ahead, we will enjoy great times together and make our fans happy.”

But the future of his team-mate Carlos Sainz is less sure with the Spaniard into the final year of his deal. Reports towards the end of 2023 suggested Ferrari were keen to re-sign the driver but were disagreeing over the length of the proposed deal.

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