The intensive development journey continues in Maranello to unlock the SF-23’s potential in both races and qualifying. The latest updates from Scuderia Ferrari are not solely focused on improving absolute performance but rather on stabilizing the car and making it less sensitive to external conditions. In Austria, the Prancing Horse presents a revised floor and a new front wing, already on display outside the garage. However, the purpose of the new wing goes beyond enhancing local efficiency; it synergizes with the floor to address specific issues.
New Profiles
From a frontal view, the SF-23’s new wing features slightly more loaded profiles compared to the previous specification. The change may appear magnified due to the different photographic perspective, but it seems that Maranello aimed to increase aerodynamic load at the front end. On several occasions, the Red car has experienced understeer, preventing the team from increasing rear-end downforce levels, even on tracks that would require greater downforce. It is worth noting that the Gurney flap on the new wing is now positioned on the outer section, presumably to facilitate the channeling of internal flows toward the floor and Venturi channels.
Repercussions on the Floor
The most significant modifications to the Ferrari’s Austrian wing are concentrated on the outer vertical endplate. The upper contour of the endplate is now lower and more rounded, departing from the previous squared geometry. The diveplane flap, on the other hand, abandons the “S” shape and adopts a simpler upwash design, directed upward. Already here, we can see the initial attention given to aerodynamic repercussions towards the rear, as the diveplane’s geometry change also affects the position and trajectory of the vortex generated along its outer edge.
However, the main novelty lies in the lower side of the wing, specifically in the connection area between the profiles and the endplate. The Mercedes-inspired cutout, which provided a lateral outlet for the flows, aiding vortex generation, is now absent. Instead, the profiles extend all the way to the rear edge with a pronounced downward curvature. The Prancing Horse has adopted a different approach to mitigate turbulence generated by the front wheels, utilizing flows from the wing.
All of these changes lead to downstream benefits in the rear part of the car, enhancing the performance of the floor. With the same objective in mind, even the curvature of the endplate has been modified. While previously the vertical endplate converged inward, it now diverts outward, encouraging the wing’s flows to bypass the front wheel. Once again, the new Ferrari SF-23 front wing has been designed not as an isolated component but as an update intended to interact optimally with the rest of the aerodynamics, starting from the floor.
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