During the Australian GP, for obvious logistical reasons and cost containment, all teams brought to the track cars that were virtually identical, in terms of technical specifications, to those that competed in the first two rounds of the season in Bahrain and at Jeddah. At most, the only improvements made to the vehicles concerned specific track adaptation interventions (such as changes in aerodynamic load or cooling) or micro-aerodynamics.
A rule that, inevitably, Ferrari could not evade. For the Melbourne leg, they brought an SF-24 technically unchanged from the one that debuted in Sakhir, evolved only with two very small aerodynamic appendages placed (one per side) on the support of the rear wing, aimed, most likely, at managing the flow of hot air exiting from the engine hood and in search (exacerbated) of the last point of downforce. A state of the art that, inevitably, means the car’s performance in races like these can only be influenced by factors such as micro adjustments and the car’s setup work, both mechanically and aerodynamically.
And it is precisely on the second aspect that the technicians of the Prancing Horse decided to focus, seeking the maximum performance of the SF-24 by intervening, with corrections on the track, on the car’s configuration. To do this, during the FP1 sessions held at Albert Park, they decided to carry out comparative tests (followed by the appropriate simulations) to “adjust” the level of downforce produced by the front wing, probably to balance the single-seater as a whole, by removing the Gurney flap placed on the trailing edge of the last flap.
A device that, in fact, owes its name to the driver who introduced it, Dan Gurney, and serves to maximize the downforce produced by the wing in medium-low speed situations without overly penalizing the top speed. Its removal does not particularly affect the overall performance of the cars but impacts on their balance (especially on tracks with medium-low speed corners) and above all on the driver’s sensations behind the wheel.
A choice that, given the spirit of the comparative tests, was followed by a step back during the second free practice session, with the mechanics reinstalling the Gurney flap on the front wings of the Reds number 16 and 55, obtaining (looking at the final standings of the day and the long runs) encouraging feedback. A final decision regarding the installation of this component in the car will only be made tomorrow morning Australian time, before the start of the FP3 and after analyzing all the data during the technical briefings overnight.
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