How Ferrari is adapting its Formula 1 car for Baku. Ferrari does not ordinarily utilise the open-end style endplate louvres.

Formula One now heads to one its outlier circuits in Baku this weekend – with the demands of the super long straight and twisty city section throwing up a unique challenge. Over the past two years, teams have quickly realised that straight line speed is essential for success in Baku, which means taking off the downforce levels and trying to find low-drag solutions.

The recent Chinese Grand Prix offered us a first glimpse of how F1’s main title protagonists Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes will be approaching this year’s race in Azerbaijan – as they devoted some practice time in Shanghai to evaluating parts for the next race, as reported earlier today by motorsport.com.

Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes both trialled their own versions of spoon-shaped rear wings in China, which are designed to deliver a significant reduction in drag while maintaining as much downforce as possible.

This is achieved by maximising the central section of the wing, recovering downforce, whilst the shorter chord height of each element at the outer section induces less drag.

It is worth noting that while Ferrari does not ordinarily utilise the open-end style endplate louvres, this wing has been designed with them in mind as the aerodynamicists look to work differently the vortex created at the wing tips.