Is Scuderia Ferrari copying Red Bull? The SF-24 single-seater, which will debut at the Imola circuit next month with the first of the three aerodynamic updates that are planned to be introduced during the 2024 Formula 1 championship, will indeed bear a certain resemblance to the RB20. As anticipated several times by the Italian media in the last few weeks, the red car will change its appearance at the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May by adopting concepts developed by Adrian Newey on the RB20 car of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, which remains the benchmark in this start of the 2024 F1 campaign.
In the batch of updates planned at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit, the Scuderia also worked on the radiator inlet elements and, in search of greater aerodynamic efficiency, decided to abandon the lower tray, opting for an inverted solution that not only allows for a smaller intake but also separates the flows more effectively.
The philosophy has been indicated by Red Bull and was also followed by McLaren with a similar solution, albeit less extreme than the one observed on the Milton Keynes car, a sign that the development trend had been grasped not only by Adrian Newey’s team or maybe that the overall design of the McLaren MCL38 car did not allow for such an extreme technical solution.
It is also legitimate to wonder if Scuderia Ferrari decided to evaluate Red Bull’s solution in the wind tunnel after seeing the RB20 on track during the pre-season testing session which was held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. The answer from Maranello is clear: no, because the team led by Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile, currently the Head of the Ferrari Aerodynamics Department, had already been studying the visor solution on the underbody since the beginning of the year.
The B version of the SF-24 started going into the Maranello wind tunnel long before the 2024 Formula 1 season got underway. Did the Ferrari technicians have a stroke of insight from Adrian Newey? This reconstruction isn’t correct either. In reality, there seems to have been a third way: you will recall that at the end of 2023, we had reported on various occasions that a handful of engineers had arrived in Maranello, some particularly from the Milton Keynes team.
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So, the Prancing Horse will benefit from market movements starting from the Imola weekend. The suggestion about the inverted underbody inlets came from those who had the opportunity to see the RB20 while it was being developed and brought their knowledge to the Scuderia.
And thus, while Head of Ferrari Vehicle Concept Diego Tondi was finalizing the SF-24 version that we will also see racing next weekend at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit in the Chinese Grand Prix, a parallel program was underway in Maranello. The study had been initiated hastily, but it was necessary to see from the data generated by the simulation tools whether the modification, tailored to the needs of the red car, could indeed provide tangible performance advantages before giving the green light to transition from the model in the wind tunnel to the new parts to be fitted on the SF-24 car.
Scuderia Ferrari is the second force in the championship behind Red Bull: the SF-24 is a single-seater that started well and most importantly it has a lot of potential for improvement through in-season development. The Imola package, which includes not only the redesigned sidepods, but also a completely new floor (from the flow diverters in the Venturi channels to the diffuser) and a more extreme front wing, should allow the red car to begin the process of closing the gap to Red Bull as team principal Frederic Vasseur had planned for the Prancing Horse.
The turnover in the Ferrari Racing Department is far from over: there are important negotiations underway that almost certainly don’t involve just Adrian Newey. While Ferrari has been trying hard to convince the genius car designer to move to Maranello, it’s much more likely that he will decide to stay with Red Bull.
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