Not just the engine: the secret of Ferrari’s improvement. The secret of Ferrari's improvement .

Ferrari was able to make a big improvement in its performance thanks to the new engine, but the suspension also plays a key role.

With the improvements made to the electrical part of the Power Unit and the new engines used on both single-seaters, the Maranello team has significantly increased its competitiveness. In particular, Mattia Binotto defined the power gap between his engine and the Mercedes one “no longer so dramatic“. But, according to technical journalists Sam Collins and Craig Scarborough, the new hybrid component is not the only element behind Ferrari’s improvement.

In fact, Ferrari would have revised its set-up as regards the angle of incidence of the car on the straights. This would favor better aerodynamic drag and top speed. An effect that happens in all single-seaters, but more quickly for Mercedes and Ferrari. An effect so sudden in the cars of the Italian team that it attracted the attention of Red Bull, which reported the fact to the FIA ​​during the Turkish GP. So the secret of Ferrari would lie in the suspension and lowering of the rear.

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THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TEAMS
As already mentioned, the effect presented by Sam Collins and Craig Scarborough, who in particular in Austin have dedicated themselves to the analysis of the latter, occurs on all cars. But this is presented in a different way in the single-seaters of different teams. For example, on this front, Red Bull has two deficits. The first concerns the high rake, which does not allow the rear to lower enough, the second is related to the duration. In fact, Red Bull reaches the point of greatest efficiency only in the final part of the straight.

In other words, on the cars of Milton Keynes’s team the lowering of the rear axle is almost linear throughout the straight. In the case of Mercedes, Ferrari and to a lesser extent Alpine, it is not linear, but is almost immediate and total at low speed, that is, at the beginning of the straight. In this way the cars reach the minimum point of height in the middle of the straight, exploiting the effect for a good stretch. Red Bull, on the other hand, only reaches it in the last few meters and therefore benefits from the effect only for a short time.