Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto was also present at the filming day in Monza last Friday. The Ferarri boss personally followed the work carried out at the Italian track, while in Maranello they were working on finalizing the package of updates that Ferrari will bring to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.
The Scuderia will introduce a very substantial first set of updates on the F1-75 in Montmelò in an attempt to recover the gap to Red Bull which was able to finalizing win the last two races (Miami and Imola) wih Max Verstappen.
In Florida, the gap from the Milton Keynes team was quantified in a couple of tenths, so it is reasonable to expect a Ferrari step forward of 3 or 4 tenths: an important leap in modern Formula 1, where improvements are measured in many thousandths (which can’t even be seen) added together.
In this case, however, the updates will be seen all right, because they will touch all the crucial aspects of the red car: the floor, the sidepods, wings, brake duct. And, of course, also a drop in weight towards the minimum of 798 kg.
The new floor has been designed to limit the negative effects of porpoising, the bouncing that emerges at high speeds and which causes cars to lose load and, therefore, performance. With the new solution, Ferrari should be able to run the floor closer to the ground, extracting greater downforce under the curb that does not cost in terms of aerodynamic efficiency.
The development work was done starting from the floor tested in FP1 at the Albert Park circuit in Australia with a narrower diffuser in the central part and with a different air vent on the sidewalk with a squared design and, perhaps, with a metal component on the inside, which was seen during the 2023 Pirelli tire tests at Imola and that has sparked so much unjustified controversy in the British media.
The sidepods have also been revised: despite the fact that Aston Martin will renounce the double floor and move more towards the concept of the Red Bull-style sloping sides, Ferrari will keep the unprecedented upper area, but will have slightly narrower side pontoons. The shape will not change but the section will be smaller to reduce drag and also weight. In short, a “cleaning” action after evaluating what the load is produced by the competition.
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Motorsport Italy have already shown us the new high-load rear wing in Giorgio Piola’s drawings, while the study is still underway on how to stabilize the temperature of the tires over a stint according to different weather conditions: Ferrari often needs of two warm-up laps to bring the tires into the right working window, as well as struggling to retain heat in the corner to ensure the tires the necessary energy to be transferred to the track.
This is a development area that involves not only the brake duct design but also the front suspension which may undergo minor changes. In Miami we had already observed the steering arm with a different carbon cover useful for changing the flow pattern that is created with the upper triangle.
Ferrari puts its cards on the table to defend and, perhaps, consolidate its advantage in the two world championships, responding to Red Bull with useful technical solutions to enhance the potential of F1-75. The war of developments has come to life.
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