Ferrari brought very visible upgrades to the Miami Grand Prix, from the reverse wing concept to the FTM profile positioned in front of the exhaust area. However, one of the most interesting and technically relevant areas of the entire package remains far less noticeable at first glance and is strongly connected to the management of aerodynamic flow in front of the sidepods and along the edge of the floor. This is a region that often goes unnoticed even by casual observers, yet it directly affects the quality, consistency, and efficiency of the downforce generated by the floor. In Formula 1, what truly matters is not only the total amount of downforce a car can produce at peak performance, but also how stable and repeatable that downforce remains under dynamic conditions like braking, cornering, acceleration, riding over kerbs, or following another car in dirty air, as well as under constantly changing environmental conditions like wind direction and intensity.
The Maranello team’s engineers and technicians updated two crucial areas of its new generation ‘agile’ cars: the side deflectors mounted on the sidepods and the floor itself. The floor is clearly one of the main sources of aerodynamic load in modern Formula 1, even though in the current regulatory era it has (fortunately from a racing perspective) lost part of its extreme dominance compared to previous generations. In order to work efficiently, the floor must maintain as strong and as stable a low-pressure region as possible underneath the car. The key challenge is that this aerodynamic region is extremely sensitive and fragile: if turbulent or disordered air enters laterally under the floor, the low-pressure zone weakens immediately and the overall downforce becomes less consistent. In that situation, the driver does not only experience a reduction in grip levels, but more importantly a car that becomes less predictable, less precise during corner entry, and significantly more nervous when applying throttle on exit.
The large deflectors positioned in front of the sidepods are designed precisely to reduce and control this unwanted aerodynamic behaviour. These elements do not generate downforce directly in the same way a front wing or rear wing does. Instead, their primary role is to condition, organise, and prepare the airflow coming from the front of the car, and to create a protective aerodynamic barrier along the sensitive edge of the floor. In simpler terms, they reduce the possibility of disturbed air entering laterally underneath the floor, protecting the low-pressure region from contamination. This is exactly the area from which a significant portion of the car’s total aerodynamic performance originates. For this reason, it is overly simplistic and even misleading to describe these components as simple bargeboards, even if there are conceptual similarities with older Formula 1 aerodynamic solutions.
There are indeed references and evolutionary links with past generations of Formula 1 aerodynamic devices, but the function of the current solutions is significantly more refined and far more targeted. These modern deflectors do not simply redirect large volumes of airflow in a generalised manner. Instead, they are designed to actively manage the pressure gradient that exists between the external airflow and the low-pressure region beneath the floor. Their complex geometry is engineered to generate controlled vortex structures, carefully tuned in both strength and positioning, which act as aerodynamic separators between the disturbed external flow and the cleaner, more stable flow that must remain attached along the lower surface of the car.
Compared to the configuration seen in the opening races of the season, the Ferrari SF-26 brought to Miami shows a much more complex and layered aerodynamic interpretation in the area in front of the sidepods. The new vertical elements, combined with overlapping aerodynamic profiles, transform this section of the car into a highly structured flow-conditioning system rather than a single-purpose device. Ferrari has deliberately distributed the aerodynamic workload across multiple smaller elements instead of relying on one dominant structure. This approach allows the team to guide the airflow in a more progressive, controlled, and stable manner towards the floor edge, reducing sudden disruptions and improving overall aerodynamic coherence.
Hamilton with 20 points of downforce less but the performance loss is more significant than that simple number
The performance gain from these developments, therefore, should not be interpreted only through the lens of peak downforce values. Instead, it must be understood in terms of aerodynamic stability and consistency across different phases of driving. A more stable floor allows the driver to build confidence, to commit more aggressively into corner entry, and to reduce unnecessary tyre stress caused by sudden aerodynamic fluctuations. This aspect is particularly important for Ferrari’s drivers, especially for Lewis Hamilton, who is still adapting to the specific aerodynamic behaviour of the SF-26. It becomes even more relevant when considering the significant power unit deficit that is affecting Ferrari compared mainly to Mercedes-powered competitors. Both Mercedes and McLaren, for example, are able to afford slightly lower cornering speeds because they can recover significant time on the straights thanks to the stronger efficiency and power delivery of their respective engines.
Clearly, the modifications applied to the side deflectors must be analysed together with the work carried out on the floor edge region. Ferrari has also introduced updates to the side slots and to the so-called “mouse hole”, one of the most aerodynamically sensitive openings located on the outer section of the floor. These elements are not isolated components but instead operate in close aerodynamic synergy with the flow structures prepared ahead of the sidepods. The process follows a sequential aerodynamic logic: first, the deflectors organise and stabilise the incoming airflow; then, the floor edge attempts to maintain the integrity of the low-pressure zone; and finally, the diffuser completes the system by efficiently extracting and accelerating the airflow at the rear of the car. This entire sequence forms a continuous aerodynamic chain. If the airflow arrives at the central floor area in a disturbed state, the floor loses efficiency and the diffuser is also unable to operate at its optimal level. Conversely, if the airflow is properly conditioned from the very beginning, the entire underfloor system becomes significantly more efficient, allowing Ferrari to generate downforce with a lower aerodynamic drag penalty.
There is, however, a critical and highly important limitation to consider. These aerodynamic profiles operate in very exposed areas of the car, close to the rotating wheels and frequently near kerbs, which makes them particularly vulnerable to contact during wheel-to-wheel racing situations. This is exactly what happened to Lewis Hamilton during the race, when he lost all of his side deflectors following a first-lap contact with Franco Colapinto, resulting in an immediate loss of approximately 20 points of downforce from his Ferrari SF-26. When such elements are damaged or removed, the aerodynamic loss is not always immediately visible in the same way as a broken front wing flap would be. However, the consequences on the floor performance are much deeper and more systemic. The underfloor airflow begins to behave in a far less controlled manner, and the performance deficit goes well beyond the nominal downforce figure lost.
It is not a coincidence that the overall performance impact in such situations has been estimated at close to half a second per lap, which is significantly greater than what would be expected from a simple 20-point downforce reduction. The effect is also cumulative and progressive: increased sliding leads to higher tyre degradation, which in turn reduces grip further, and the operating window of the car becomes increasingly narrow as the stint progresses. Additionally, there is the important factor of aerodynamic asymmetry affecting Lewis Hamilton specifically, since only the left-side deflectors were lost in the incident. This effectively created an imbalance in how the car behaves in left-hand versus right-hand corners, making the SF-26 dynamically inconsistent depending on the direction of the turn.
In conclusion, the Ferrari upgrades introduced in Miami can be considered technically interesting and directionally correct, even if they cannot yet be described as revolutionary given the persistent and significant power unit deficit, as well as the continuous progress being made by rivals McLaren and Red Bull. At Maranello, the development focus has not been limited to simply increasing maximum downforce, but rather to improving how that downforce is generated, managed, and sustained across an entire lap. The new deflectors, the updated floor edge design, and the revised diffuser all point towards a very clear technical direction: better protection of the floor and reduced sensitivity of the SF-26 to real-world track conditions and aerodynamic disturbances.
This is a less visually spectacular update compared to more noticeable elements like the so-called Macarena wing or the FTM profile near the exhaust area, but it is arguably more important when evaluated through performance data and race execution. Because in modern Formula 1, performance is rarely defined by the absolute peak of aerodynamic downforce. Instead, it is increasingly determined by the ability to maintain that downforce consistently, lap after lap, under varying conditions and through different phases of a race stint. It is precisely in the quality, stability, and management of the airflow around the floor that Ferrari appears to have identified the first meaningful steps forward for the development of the SF-26 project.
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