Scuderia Ferrari have trailed a fresh round of car upgrades at the French GP, amid speculation they may be closer to finding a breakthrough with their 2019 car. Although the Maranello team played down the significance of their “evolutionary” updates at Paul Ricard – which include new front wing and diffuser – the changes are aimed at helping cure their car’s cornering problems.
“It’s the general direction of travel at Ferrari,” said Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz. “They understand that the front of the car – the front axle, the front downforce – is the problem and they are trying to fix it.” Kravitz added: “I’ve also spotted a new diffuser on the Ferrari. That’ll be more powerful than a tiny little winglet on the front wing.”
The latest development parts, which Ferrari used for the first time in Practice One as they conducted comparison runs, come as the Scuderia work to establish why their SF90 has been losing out to Mercedes so far this season, particularly in slow corners.
But have the factory trials of the new front wing uncovered a key season-long problem?
Writing in his column for Motor Sport magazine, Sky F1’s Mark Hughes reported: “It is rumoured, simulation testing of it revealed an anomaly that, when traced back, showed up a fundamental error in the car’s aero mapping that has been there all season. “When the real world error was replicated in the simulator, a test driver found the car was 0.3s slower around Barcelona. The implication being that the car has been carrying 0.3s-worth of mapping error for all seven races.”
Leave a Reply