The first day of pre-season testing began a few hours ago in Bahrain with the long-awaited 2023 Formula 1 cars. Red Bull finally revealed the design of its RB19 car, but it hasn’t completely stolen the attention, because a lot of interest also remained on the Ferrari SF-23 and the Mercedes W14 challengers.
Ferrari confirmed the medium load rear wing
One of the first indications – which we had already mentioned – was associated with the aerodynamic look of the Ferrari that took to the track on the Demo day and Filming day at Fiorano. The Scuderia from Maranello started the tests with the classic aerodynamic rakes placed in the front area of the car, with the aim of collecting data on the flow that first hits the front wing, nose and suspension, and then moves to the rear. A classic task that almost all teams normally carry out in these pre-season days.
However, after a deeper technical analysis, there was a lot of curiosity about the rear wing specification with which the SF-23 took to the Bahrain International Circuit given that the presentation on the track and the filming day were carried out using a medium-load wing, very similar to the specification that Maranello introduced in Canada on the F1-75 with Charles Leclerc, to then confirm it at Silverstone also for Carlos Sainz and make extensive use of it during the final part of the season. A version of the element that provides good load, without excessively penalizing the top speed.
A particular choice already for the debut of the car, but even more particular to see again in Bahrain, which is a medium-high load circuit, rear limited and stop & go. This means it requires excellent traction and therefore a lot of load to protect and enhance the rear also due to a very severe asphalt, as explained by F1 experts Piergiuseppe Donadoni and Paolo D’Alessandro for formu1a.uno.
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We could define it as a good signal, albeit an initial one and which has to be confirmed, because it would bring the Italian car closer to Red Bull in terms of load and drag induced by the wings, with the possibility of expressing greater speed on the straight considering that most of the drag comes right from the rear wing (as well as from the tires). Which was also one of the objectives of SF-23. It is no coincidence that Carlos Sainz has already recorded a speed of 325 km/h.
We recall that the SF-23 uses an innovative S-Duct, with the precise purpose of improving the contribution of the flow to the rear wing and to the beam wing through the energization of the air exiting from the many gills present on the engine cover, but also to clean up the air flow from the turbulences that are created below the inlet of the sidepods, with a cleaner flow around the sidepods and therefore a greater load developed between the central and rear parts of the car.
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