Now it’s official. The documents published by the Federation confirm the updates to the Ferrari SF-25 for the Bahrain Grand Prix, as anticipated by Lewis Hamilton on Thursday. The developments involve the floor, from the Venturi channel volumes to the diffuser geometry, including the outer edge and flow diverters, along with a tweak to the rear wing support pillar. The new floor does not represent a solution to the issues seen in recent races, but it is nonetheless the first attempt to capitalize on what, on paper, should be the greater growth potential of the SF-25 compared to the previous design. The results from free practice will indicate whether there are conditions to race with the new package, also depending on progress in balance tuning.
The list of updates
Thanks to the information summarized in the documents accompanying the static presentation of the cars, we get an overview of the first development package for the SF-25. The Maranello team has worked on the inlet section and the volumes of the Venturi channels on the floor, optimizing pressure and airflow speed beneath the car. The diffuser is also different, both in ramp geometry and in the keel at the rear of the chassis. Ferrari’s package presents itself as a 360-degree concept, also affecting the distribution and curvature of the flow diverters at the entrance of the Venturi channels. Other changes involve the raised outer edge of the floor, which has been extended and fitted with an additional vortex generator for better airflow extraction along the sides of the car.
In the short description published, Ferrari explains that the new floor is designed to reduce energy losses in the air—meaning pressure and speed—on its way to the rear. The new diffuser is thus aimed at better exploiting the increased energy of the airflow, just like the longer lateral extractor, increasing downforce and theoretically reducing sensitivity to external conditions. The package is completed by two small appendages on the rear wing support pillar, intended to improve aerodynamic efficiency by a few points. While awaiting a graphical analysis with images of the updated Ferrari, it is always important to remember that many of the changes remain hidden from outside observers.
What to expect from the new features
This year Ferrari started from a new project to enjoy greater growth potential, now trying to realize that with the first updates. Considering the natural development timelines, the new package was born even before the start of the season and is therefore not guided by feedback from the first races. The updates for Bahrain are thus not aimed at resolving the SF-25’s problems—above all the management of ride heights—but they do offer increased downforce, which is also a new tool for working on balance. It will still need to be verified whether the increased downforce can be handled by the suspension, and how the new floor will perform at the higher ride heights at which the SF-25 is currently running.
The new package debuts on a track already familiar to the teams, as it hosted pre-season testing. The data available provides a good starting point for setup, facilitating Grand Prix preparation and allowing for additional work. Besides evaluating the updates, Ferrari’s agenda includes finding a balance after the setup experiments of the past races. Bahrain is a circuit that rewards rear-end performance, which has emerged as the SF-25’s weak point. However, in the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, Charles Leclerc noted some improvements after trying a different setup direction, which Lewis Hamilton will also evaluate. The challenge will be isolating the effects of the setup from those of the updates, working on two fronts simultaneously. A busy Friday is now underway for Ferrari, with many comparative tests between the two cars in both setup and aerodynamic components.
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