While even in Maranello they are waiting to understand what the future will bring after the resignation of Mattia Binotto (which should become clearer just before Christmas), with Mattia Binotto taking part in tomorrow’s FIA World Council (WMSC) in Bologna, work on the 675 project is progressing to improve the excellent 2022 Ferrari car, as reported by F1 experts Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno.
The F1-75 brought the Maranello team four victories, twelve pole positions and five fastest laps, thus earning second place in the Constructors’ championship in terms of technical competitiveness. What to expect from the 2023 car? “We have to focus on making it faster and more reliable. Only in this way will we be able to be competitive throughout the next season.” the now ex team principal Mattia Binotto explained after Abu Dhabi.
With what aerodynamic concept? “We will not copy anyone. The F1-75 is a great development base. We will remain faithful to our concept, trying to improve performance in all areas.”, confirming the desire not to give up on current solutions, especially in the upper half of the single-seater, in which the Maranello team has invested many resources in preparation for 2022.
Ferrari 675: chassis and suspension are defined, advanced aerodynamics to be decided.
The design of the 2023 challenger is largely defined. The mechanics and the chassis are totally the same, while work is continuously being done on the aerodynamic part, to extract further available potential. The aerodynamicists have in fact received the 2023 cooling specifications so as to define in detail the evolution of the sidepods, the air box and the engine cover. It is an important aspect because it is believed that the efficient load in that area can still be increased, as explained by formu1a.uno.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Not so much in the upper part of the car, where Ferrari uses a unique concept compared to all the other teams, also thanks to a specially designed power unit, but in the central one if we had to cut the car into three macro horizontal areas looking at it from the front. In fact, the Italian team wanted to free up a large part of the space located above and behind the engine. It is no coincidence that the F1-75 was the car that exposed the fin the most compared to the other cars, coupled with a triangular airbox that worked in symbiosis to have the leanest, cleanest and most efficient upper part of the car. Precisely for this reason, Ferrari had invested a lot of development in terms of rear wing load specifications without ever changing the front wing. Conversely, on the 2023 car it was decided to invest more budget and focus on the front wing and its endplates, in search of greater efficiency.
However, it is no secret that the least visible area – the one under the bottom – will be the crucial one, above all due to the aerodynamic changes to the 2023 regulations which have significantly affected the technicians. Next season, the edges of the floor will be raised by 15 millimeters while the diffuser by 10 mm. If the second takes away some importance in terms of downforce generation from the diffuser but will allow the trigger point of the porpoising to be moved away, the teams will have to return to work in an important way on the flexibility of the lateral area, the one that will be raised.
If in the past season, the teams had to reinforce that macro area a lot after realizing that an excessive bending could block the flow directed towards the rear, causing the so aerodynamic bouncing, with the new regulations they will be able to go back to ‘lightening’ that part of the floor to return to seal it better, recreating an effect similar to that of the side skirts on the wing cars of the 80s. In this way, part of the load would be recovered following the regulation changes imposed by the FIA that will certainly make the 2023 cars lose load.
The F1-75 was designed to make good use of many downforce options thanks to a very stable floor. The update brought to France, with a specification to seek efficiency that was still lacking as compared to Red Bull by replicating some characteristics of the surface used by the Red Bull RB18, was a step forward but unfortunately making it less stable with consequent greater aerodynamic instabilities, which were later resolved with the floor introduced in Japan. However, the DT39 had put the Maranello engineers in further difficulty, in that case mainly on the mechanical part of the F1-75 which will only be resolved with next year’s challengers.
Leave a Reply