Scuderia Ferrari has clear ideas and above all a first aerodynamic upgrade package for the SF-24 car is almost ready. As we know, Enrico Cardile, the Head of the Ferrari Aerodynamics Department, has planned several important updates with his Maranello working group, which we will most likely see on track in about one month. First of all, it’s worth emphasizing a fact. A Formula 1 team always keeps an eye on the rest on its rivals and the rest of the competitors. That’s why they observe, photograph, and study the solutions which are introduced on other cars. They evaluate them with Computational Fluid Dynamics and try to understand if, possibly, the settings used by opponents could work on their own car. Or, simply, if they can somehow serve as “inspiration” to make some changes and gain some benefits from the new technical solutions.
This practice is certainly not new, and as mentioned, estimating the benefits of others’ design and philosophies is a normal routine in Formula 1. Another concept that needs to be clarified concerns estimating the advantages achievable through an upgrade. We have always repeated it. A Formula 1 team obviously does its calculations, and every small novelty is created to improve the overall car’s performance or at least to help take a better direction for future development. This is clear as well as obvious. That’s why an idea about the time benefits undoubtedly exists within the factory. However, it is only the track that can provide certain data regarding tangible advantages, also because an improvement package needs time to be validated based on track feedback and even more time to be optimized.
The foundation of the Ferrari SF-24 is very solid. It’s a car that follows adjustments and, compared to last year, has a significantly larger operating window. For this reason, adaptation to different circuits has worked very good and as we have observed in the first four rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 racing campaign, in terms of setup, Maranello’s technicians manage to “play” with the download installed on the car at the rear, while always maintaining the same rear wing specification supported by the beam wing, a small component that acts as a true extension of the diffuser, with which the SF-24 “adjusts” the level of downforce based on track characteristics and the overall car balance and efficiency.
Reasonably, the upgrades, decidedly less conventional than the current configuration, aim to find the same balance. This is because the current wing cars are particularly subject to certain technical factors, and any small uncertainty could render the work done to update the car almost useless. The time to take risks has come. In times not suspicious, Frederic Vasseur had said it. A setting across the board that, in reflection, in addition to the approach to be used during the race weekend, also includes the improvements made to the cars.
Ferrari “SF-24 EVO”: technical innovations that could surprise
The downforce generated by the ground effect cars is practically “free”. This means that finding additional load points increases vertical thrust without affecting drag. That’s why several modifications will arrive precisely in this macro component of the Ferrari SF-24 single-seater. Visible changes will therefore be made to the upper part of the car, to which other changes in the area under the floor will be added. Moreover, on more than one occasion, various Formula 1 technicians, including Red Bull’s Adrian Newey himself, have emphasized the importance of this area of wing cars for producing aerodynamic load.
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The goal in this regard is quite clear: to have the possibility to go faster in corners while simultaneously increasing the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. Considering that compared to the Red Bull RB20, Scuderia Ferrari generates a higher amount of drag, which, added to the downforce relative to the wing angle to obtain load, slows down the car on straights and partly “wastes” the great power from the 066/10 power unit. At the same time, in addition to some modifications to taper the sidepods, the Italian car should feature a reshaping in the central portion of the SF-24 car. We refer to the area that includes the sidepod inlets.
The engineers employed by the Maranello team have thoroughly studied a new configuration of the inlet section which is necessary for cooling the sidepods. The primary goal would be to raise the inlets to the maximum size allowed by the regulations with a reverse shape of the “tray”. In this case, the target aims to increase the volume of the undercut by a few cubic centimeters and, consequently, reposition the high-pressure area that develops in this area of the SF-24, a prerogative that provides cleaner fluid flowing towards the rear, increasing the outwash effect.
The so-called “upper aerodynamics” of the car could be part of this restyling, as it significantly affects flow management. First of all, there should be some modifications to the airbox located above the driver’s head. Scuderia Ferrari has studied in detail the Red Bull RB20 cooling system to increase its knowledge in this field. Producing a tapering of the sidepods and presenting smaller inlet sections dedicated to the car’s cooling should not create overheating problems for the internal parts of the Ferrari power unit. Therefore, internal modifications that we could eventually observe through some indiscreet shots by photographers in the pitlane are not excluded.
For the rest, the Prancing Horse has also worked a lot on the rear part of the SF-24 car. In this case, however, we are talking about changes that might come later in the 2024 Formula 1 season, in the second major aerodynamic upgrade package, as it seems much wiser to first evaluate the innovations on track without overdoing it. We are referring to an area of the car often less talked about but one that is playing a very important role in generating vertical thrust. We are talking about the portion of the car that includes the diffuser, where some changes to its volume are being considered to extract a greater amount of fluid during the expansion phase.
Changes related to the operation of the beam wing, which, as emphasized several times in some previous articles, is an element that works in close synergy with the diffuser to facilitate flow extraction due to the pressure it exerts on the ground. In this context, we must remember that the Italian team, compared to the past Formula 1 season, had already revised this part of the car by increasing the volume of the bulk already present on the 2023 car, to which another bulge has been added now on the upper surface of the diffuser.
Now let’s talk briefly about the wings. Scuderia Ferrari had already produced a different version of the rear wing that we were able to observe during the shake-down at the Fiorano circuit before the start of the 2024 Formula 1 championship. We are talking about a specification that involves a difference in the central area of the upper flap’s trailing edge. A solution that has not been used during a race weekend so far, on which the Maranello technicians are still working to incorporate other key changes. It remains to be seen when and how it will be introduced on the SF-24 car in various free practice session to collect some valuable data from the track. As for the front wing, we know the importance this component carries in the economy of a wing car.
For this reason, during the ongoing Formula 1 championship, we will see several changes that should be considered as adaptations to the circuits, useful for managing the amount of downforce installed on the cars. We know that Ferrari, referring back to the beginning of the article, analyzed and evaluated the “zero sidepods” solution of Mercedes. In this case as well, it remains to be seen if the SF-24 will somehow take inspiration from the W15, a solution that, however, does not seem to have aroused much interest so far from the other teams. All we can do is wait for the seventh round of the 2024 Formula 1 campaign, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Imola circuit, bearing in mind that Ferrari is working hard to be able to bring these changes for the race weekend in front of the Tifosi. We’ll see if the Maranello technicians succeed.
Source: Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica
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