Ferrari, the Friday indications: what data from practice can tell us about SF21

The first Grand Prix of the year is always a source of great emotions, with the protagonists of the F1 Championship returning to confront each other directly on the track, kicking off a new season. The inaugural event is often accompanied by great curiosity about the values on track, at the end of a winter in which development work continued unabated in the factories.

Ferrari is among the teams most in the spotlight, charged with the expectations of millions of fans around the world. The Scuderia from Maranello has set itself the goal of recovering after the difficult 2020 season by aiming to take third place in the constructors standings.

The SF21 is presented at the start of the championship in the same configuration seen during the mid-month tests, but almost all of the grid has not introduced significant updates on their cars. Development work in this first phase of the season seems to focus more on extracting potential from the cars, whose behavior was deeply affected by the aerodynamic restrictions at the floor and diffuser introduced with the latest technical regulation. The new technical limitations in particular have impacted on the aerodynamic balance as well as on the absolute levels of downforce, which is why fully understanding the behavior of 2021 aerodynamics and defining the set-up accordingly can contribute to a considerable leap in performance, especially in the first races.

In this respect, the new-found correlation between the data of the wind tunnel, the simulator and the track, confirmed by both drivers during the Bahrain testing session, constitutes an important tool in the first phase of development for SF21, aimed precisely at extracting the maximum of potential without making obvious changes. In Maranello, the technicians have the opportunity to progress in the analysis work by nourishing the necessary confidence in virtual simulation tools, an aspect that simplifies the setting up of the car during the race weekend in parallel with the activities carried out on the circuit.

While on the one hand the SF21 seen in Bahrain is not new compared to the test version, it is possible to appreciate a difference with the SF1000 protagonist on the same track last December. The red 2020 took part in qualifying and the race with a low-load rear wing, distinguishable by the downward curved spoon profile. The choice was then made after several comparative tests with the second wing specification at greater load, alternating the two components on both cars between one session and the next and showing great indecision as to which solution was the most effective.

In today’s free practice, however, both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc constantly took to the track with the same wing, suggesting a newfound predictability in the car’s behavior. The wing used also sports a straight main profile, guaranteeing a greater load than the specification adopted on the same track by the SF1000, but at the same time entailing greater resistance to forward movement. The choice further confirms what was declared by the men of the Scuderia, namely a higher straight-line travel speed thanks to the new power unit and the more efficient aerodynamic design, which allows you to adopt higher load settings without worrying excessively about resistance to forward movement.

This aspect takes on even greater importance in the light of the new technical regulation. With the recent aerodynamic restrictions at the floor and diffuser, the increase in the load generated by the rear wing can be beneficial, according to a dynamics that goes beyond the simple compensation with the wing of the loss of downforce from the underbody.. The increase in the load given off by the aileron contributes to lowering the pressure in the area behind the car, a factor which in turn intensifies the extraction of flows from the diffuser and consequently the downforce generated by the floor reduced by the new rules. For the same mechanism, the loss of effectiveness of the diffuser is also reduced following the lowering of the vertical strips imposed by the regulation, as the greater speed of the flow delays the detachment from the surfaces.

The possibility of adopting an aerodynamic configuration with greater rear load than the SF1000 is one of the aspects that contribute to the good traction qualities of the SF21, a quality that emerged both in the indications of the track and in the words of the drivers.

In conclusion, Ferrari confirms that it has improved in absolute terms several critical issues of the 2020 car, while the relative progress compared to the competition still remains to be precisely quantified, which will greatly depend on the development of the rival single-seaters. The first two free practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix point to Ferrari not far from McLaren, values that, if they were to be confirmed, would re-propose a comparison that has been repeated several times in the history of Formula 1.