First no, then yes: why we’ll see a Ferrari SF-24 with Red Bull-style sidepods at Imola. Why we'll see a Ferrari SF-24 with Red Bull-style sidepods amid first big aero update.

Thanks to the work of technicians who have come to Maranello from the world champion team, an increase in performance has been achieved in the simulator with a sidepod configuration that features air intakes covered by a wide upper lip, similar to the RB20.

If Red Bull has introduced a comprehensive development package that involved reconfiguring the air intakes with additional ones on the sides of the cockpit, as well as reducing the size of the horizontal intakes, Ferrari seems to intend not to preview even part of the substantial development package scheduled for the seventh race of the 2024 Formula One season, the Emilia Romagna Gran Prix at the Imola circuit. In fact, over the last month, various rumors had suggested a partial preview in Miami, but now it seems increasingly credible that the team will only introduce a deeply revised version of the SF-24 when they return to Europe, with the Imola race just a few dozen kilometers from Maranello. As always, when discussing major packages, the hypotheses put forward by various media multiply, including scenarios that are somewhat dubious.

In this sense, after verifying from several reliable sources, some rumors seem to have actual confirmation. Essentially, the team led by technical director Enrico Cardile, but more specifically the aerodynamics team directed by Diego Tondi, seems to have found an unexpected performance increase in studying a configuration of the side pods that includes air intakes covered by a wide upper lip, in full Red Bull style. It is correct to report this by emphasizing that this solution, already under study in the current SF-24, was initially discarded as it was not deemed particularly advantageous since it limited, in the medium term, a reasoned evolution of the lower channel between the side pods and the floor. However, by performing simultaneous interactions with CFD, it was possible to find an effective key to integrate the intakes characteristic of the RB20. This mainly involved a detailed reading of data in simulations that directly compared the original (current) version of the SF-24 and the possible version with the reversed intakes.

The comparison between the two versions was conducted based on specific information related to the Milton Keynes team’s project, shared by technicians who joined the Maranello organization chart last season, coming from the world champion team. These were not only aerodynamics specialists but also mathematicians with advanced expertise in data analysis, who had already made a significant contribution to determining setups since the second part of last season. In detail, from our information, it emerges that the solution to be introduced at Imola will not be an exact copy of the Red Bull, but an interpretation that also aligns with the current orientation of the SF-24 radiators, which differs from the solution seen on the car of the Milton Keynes team.

In any case, the new intakes will be accompanied by a reshaping of the floor at the level of its leading edge and the lower conveyors. The updates on the floor concern the side profile in front of the rear wheels, but there will also be a change in the angle of the rear slope of the side pods. Essentially, it seems correct to state that, aerodynamically, the SF-24 that will debut in the the Emilia Romagna Gran Prix at Imola, which is expected to have three evolutionary steps over the course of the 2024 Formula 1 season, can be considered almost a B version of the current Ferrari single-seater.