Ferrari prepares for F1 Imola upgrades with Fiorano filming days

Ferrari's SF-24 will receive the first of three planned upgrade packages next week, when F1 heads to Italian soil for the first time in 2024.

It has deployed its second and last filming session on its own Fiorano test track to give its comprehensive upgrades package a first run-in and reduce the calibration work needed at Imola.

While filming days are limited to 200km and conducted on special Pirelli tyres, it gives the Scuderia some useful data to compare the new upgrades to their virtual counterparts and correlate the work that has been done in the wind tunnel by the Enrico Cardile-led technical team.

The filming day will also be used to gather rights-free footage with the SF-24 driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz incorporating the blue HP logos in its updated livery.

The American tech giant joined the team from last weekend's Miami Grand Prix as a title sponsor, adding its well-known blue logos to the engine cover and both the front and rear wings.

It is also expected its third driver Oliver Bearman will get some mileage to help him prepare his first FP1 session of the season in Imola, where he will step into the Haas VF-24.

Team boss Fred Vasseur played down talk that Ferrari's first major upgrades to the SF-24 will be a huge step as has been touted.

But the Frenchman added that given the tight battle the team is in with the recently upgraded McLarens, even a modest step could make the difference with the Woking-based squad.

"We don't have to expect that it will be a game-changer, but it's so tight that this can bring performance," Vasseur said.

Our competitors brought parts this [Miami] weekend, and it was not a game-changer. But it's also that when in qualifying you have four or five cars in one-tenth, if you bring one-tenth, it's a game-changer for the weekend.

"But a large part of the result, it's also coming from what we are doing with the drivers, the set-up of the car during the weekend, the management of the tyres.

"We don't have to think only about upgrades and development, it's also the job that we are doing on track."

When asked if it was a coincidence that Ferrari's first upgrade is landing for its first home race of the season, Vasseur replied: "The fact that Imola is close to the factory is helping us bring something, because we can release the parts a bit later.

"But no, it was nothing to do with Italy. Then again, we don't have to expect that it will be a game-changer, but it's so tight that this can bring performance."