Filming and shooting days are basically nothing out of the ordinary in Formula 1. Ferrari, however, made a big secret of its “100 km test” that experts suspect a big update was tried out. Further, Ferrari aimed to please Russian sponsor Kaspersky by filming the car adorned with their logos’ after a ban on Russian revenue since the invasion of Ukraine meant the removal of the logo this season.

Film days are usually set by Formula 1 at the very beginning of each season. To collect initial data of a new car during a short roll-out. Ferrari had a film day on Friday in Monza, with its lack of corners and long straights, an unusual venue to test an update. It is believed that the update concentrates on top speed in an effort to keep the faster Red Bull at bay.

During the first filming, the F1-75 was still emblazoned with the logo of the Russian company Kaspersky, a company that creates computer programs for online computer protection, a major cyber security company. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ferrari took the Kaspersky logo off the car and so it appears that new videos had to be made in order to keep the revenue flowing in from Russia.

But the royal park in Monza was almost hermetically sealed on Friday; Ferrari wanted absolutely no spectators at this 100 km test. Not an easy feat considering the Ferrari enthusiasm among the Tifosi.

The secrecy immediately caused the rumour mill to bubble up. Ferrari is said to have tried out a major update on the car in order to close the gap on Red Bull by Barcelona (20-22 May). Currently, the experts are talking about two tenths of a second per lap as Ferrari is allegedly trying to further reduce the drag and the weight in order to increase the cars’ top speed. Currently Red Bull’s big advantage over the team.

Improvements have also be made to the DRS system. Charles Leclerc completed 17 laps in the morning.