Ferrari goes against grain compared to rivals: small vents and asymmetrical engine cover for SF-24 in Belgium. Ferrari adopted a very particular solution at Spa-Francorchamps to facilitate heat dissipation.

The Italian team adopted a very particular solution at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in order to facilitate heat dissipation from beneath the engine hood. Unlike at the Hungaroring circuit, where they used numerous vents due to high temperatures (read here), in Belgium, they seemed unafraid of the heat, and their chosen configuration proved effective despite Sunday’s race taking place on a track surface consistently above 40°C.

Whether it was because of the rain on Saturday or the expectation of cloudy skies with little chance of rain on Sunday, Ferrari took the risk of closing the engine cover as much as possible to enhance the car’s aerodynamic efficiency.

Asymmetrical engine cover: Compared to Austria, the reasons for the choice are more complex

Few but very targeted vents. Just like in Austria, the SF-24 single-seater returned to using an asymmetrical hood. However, unlike in Spielberg, this time it’s harder to understand Ferrari’s choice.

Source: formula1.it

Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz raced with a configuration featuring two vents on the left side and only one on the right. Normally, we would have thought the circuit had a predominance of right-hand turns, but that’s not the case, as Spa-Francorchamps has 9 right-hand turns and 10 left-hand turns.

We then considered how many of those turns are high-speed and could thus favor proper heat evacuation. The answer was similar to the previous count: 6 right-hand and 7 left-hand. With no clear dominance of one type of turn over the other, Ferrari’s decision piqued our curiosity. We still don’t know why they preferred an asymmetrical hood, but we noticed that Ferrari was the only top team to do so, as explained by the Italian website formula1.it

Source: formula1.it

The Choices of Rivals

It is likely that flow analyses indicated that using an asymmetrical engine cover would allow for better heat extraction. This is certainly true, although unlike in Austria, where the reasons were more apparent, in Belgium it was impossible to determine this beforehand in this case. For example, Mercedes and McLaren did not take the same risk and installed slightly more vents than Ferrari, about 4 or 5 per side. Red Bull, on the other hand, closed their hood significantly, only opening vents in the ‘basin’ formed between the famous ‘bazookas.’

Source: formula1.it

Source: formula1.it