After overhauling the SF24’s architecture during the first of the two Italian rounds at the Imola circuit last month, and following the debacle at the Montreal circuit in Canada, Scuderia Ferrari decided to expedite the updates this weekend in Barcelona, advancing a large part of the second update package originally planned for Silverstone.
Ferrari debuts with new updates in Spain
The Maranello team, along with Racing Bulls, brought the most upgrades, with Maranello’s technicians working on various areas, including the venturi channel inlets, the HALO, the lower sidepods, and the diffuser. They also equipped the SF24 with a new floor and a new medium/high-load rear wing, all aimed at improving aerodynamic efficiency and the generated downforce.
“When we quantify an update, we only talk about performance, that’s what it’s all about in the end,” began Jock Clear, senior performance engineer at Ferrari, discussing the new package. “We could talk about interesting numbers produced by the aerodynamics department, but our measure is always the lap time.”
“In the past, we have also talked about how imperceptible some of the effects on the air are, especially at the rear of the car. This happened in parallel with Imola, so it is not a reaction to Imola, if you understand what I mean. It is not about the Imola update and then ‘let’s see what results it produced.’” – the Ferrari engineer pointed out.
“It has always been a scheduled and parallel update. So bringing it here, as long as it works as we expect, and recently we have had excellent correlation, we have no reason to believe it won’t happen this time.”
“If the performance is what we expect today, it is a good confirmation that we understand what is happening with this car. We didn’t have to wait for the Imola package to then say: ‘Oh, okay, what did it produce, now let’s go in this direction.’” – he added – “We knew what the Imola package would do, and it did what it was supposed to do. At the same time, we also thought about the next step, and that’s what we see here.”
The reason for the anticipated updates
Continuing, the British engineer spoke about the motivations that led the team to advance the developments, with the Montmeló circuit being a crucial testbed to assess their effectiveness: “Everything was accelerated a bit. I have already said that Barcelona is a fantastic circuit for evaluating a car.”
“If possible, you always want to arrive in Barcelona with a package. That’s why we do pre-season. We have so much experience here that it levels out all other variables, and you get a good read of a package.”
“I think that, given that the Imola package was a good step forward, maybe this was planned for the future, but this triple-header offers three good opportunities. Austria and Silverstone are also excellent.”
Finally, the closely competitive grid also played a decisive role: “We pushed a bit because at the moment everything is very close and if you can arrive one race earlier, the gains are effectively doubled. It’s not just about what our updates do, but also about what the others do. If we can make an upgrade a little earlier than the others, then we can carry it forward longer.” – Jock Clear concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
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