Ferrari’s hopes are tied to the ninth round of the 2025 Formula 1 championship, the Spanish Grand Prix. In Formula 1, every detail matters and, according to what has been reported by the Italian and international media based on information collected from Montmeló on Thursday, the Maranello team thinks and hopes that their rivals will be affected by technical directive TD018 regarding flexible wings. In practice, it is a bit like hoping others will do the job for you. It’s not a good feeling, regardless of how much this change might shake things up.
The Maranello team has several aerodynamic updates to introduce before focusing solely on the next season. Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps will be two crucial points of the 2025 Formula 1 campaign. In the meantime, we comment on what is happening here in Catalonia, where starting tomorrow, the on-track action will give us the first indications of how the main teams have responded to this regulatory change.
Ferrari takes the opportunity and the new SF-25 wing is an evolution of the previous one, both to comply with the new technical directive and because it represents the first aerodynamic update to this component. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur had specified that the team intended to make some changes and that TD018 was an opportunity to bring them to the track. The new specification differs both structurally and aerodynamically.
The design was modified for several reasons. The first is the natural development of the component, which also serves to rebalance the load. The goal was to optimise the downforce generated at low speeds, bearing in mind that the wing’s aeroelasticity was among the least invasive. This helps explain the lack of downforce in slower sections compared to the other top teams.
The reasoning is as follows: in effect, if the Maranello team has failed to perform in slow corners, the gap was not mainly due to a lack of mechanical grip. On the contrary, it was a result of poor airflow management at low speeds. The current regulations do not allow optimisation across all speed ranges, and it was precisely through flexing that the teams managed to do so.
So what has changed structurally for the SF-25 based on the images taken on Thursday at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona? In order to increase the stiffness of the wing, the Ferrari engineers and technicians intervened in the layout of the carbon layers, while the matrix, namely the resin used, remains the same. Already from the main plane, one can notice a more external placement of the carbon. Observing the main profile, it is evident that the fibre direction is now oriented longitudinally with respect to the fluid flow, whereas previously it was transverse.
On the first additional element, the fibre orientation is exactly the opposite of before, as can be seen in the images from the Barcelona pitlane. On the second and third flaps—those “most under scrutiny”—the layers have undergone clear changes. In this case, similar to what was done on the main element, the fibre direction is longitudinal to the flow acting on the car.
This feature provides greater rigidity when the wing is under load. Obviously, as mentioned, we still expect it to flex. Perhaps the teams have already found ways to circumvent the technical directive, but fundamentally, the wing can still exhibit a certain amount of deflection. The regulations impose a maximum limit, which can still be pushed to make the most of this component.
Aerodynamically, there are some differences in the endplate, whose outline is noticeably different from the previous version. This means that the pressure field around the endplate is now different. As a result, the vortex coming off the element will also show some differences. It remains to be seen how the SF-25 will perform on track. We will find out tomorrow starting with the first free practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya.
— see video above —
Leave a Reply