Anderson got a déjà vu: ‘The new Ferrari follows the same aerodynamic template as in 2022’

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Anderson got a déjà vu: 'The new Ferrari follows the same aerodynamic template as in 2022'

Formula 1 journalist Gary Anderson thinks the new Ferrari car is quite similar to the one from 2022. According to him, the aerodynamic template of the SF-23 is almost the same as the previous car. Anderson sees that the Scuderia has changed some parts, but he still sees a lot of resemblance to the previous car, which was also the car with which Ferrari did not win a championship.

On February 14, the team from Maranello showed its new car to the world. The driver duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were allowed to take the red car straight onto the track, as Ferrari hosted the event of the presentation at the Fiorano circuit. “When you look at the facilities Ferrari has at Fiorano, including the test track, it’s almost impossible to understand why the team could ever be surpassed,” Anderson writes in his analysis at The Race. “Ferrari’s new SF-23 follows the same overall aerodynamic template as its 2022 Formula 1 car. The radiator inlet and the undercut in the front corner of the sidepod have been further optimised, but are still very similar,” said the Formula 1 journalist. .

Ferrari also retained the ‘bathtub’ at the top of the sidepod. It does have fewer fins on this surface, but Anderson is pretty sure they will be variable depending on the individual cooling requirements for each circuit. “The top surface of the bathtub sidepod isn’t as dramatic as last year. These exhaust grilles just behind the upper part of the radiator will improve radiator cooling efficiency in this area,” Anderson continues. “The notch in the front corner of the sidepod is a little more aesthetically pleasing than last year. It is not as vertical as the outer part of the housing, which will be more tolerant of changes in the direction of air currents.”

It is important to create as robust a surface as possible with changing air flows when the front wheels are steered. The front wheel angle in fast corners compared to slow corners creates a huge difference in the airflows in this area. It’s interesting to see quite a bit of unpainted carbon on the surfaces, just to save some weight, which just goes to show that the weight limit is very hard to reach, even for top teams. Has anything really changed significantly in the concept of the Ferrari car?

Ferrari has given the front wing a makeover

“The front wing is different from last year. It has the now common full-width slot opening between the front element and the second element,” Anderson said. “Also the trailing edge of the front wing trailing flap is fairly consistent going outward and then falls away from the inside of the front tire quite quickly. This creates a fairly consistent airflow between the inside of the front wheels and the chassis with different angles of the front wings in that area.” The front wing joins the air vortices caused by the tires as the airflow is forced out as the front wheel rotates on the track surface.

Together with the vanes that turn the airflow outwards, Ferrari has focused on maximizing the outward airflow. “This is something these regulations have aimed to minimize, so I would expect the FIA ​​to look into these vanes,” Anderson suspects. Namely, there is a question about the legality of the vanes in how they join the third and fourth wing flaps. Mercedes arrived at the United States Grand Prix last year with a similar solution, but had to remove the brackets on behalf of the FIA. “The regulations for using something like that have been rewritten for this year to limit the amount, overall size and curvature of these components.”

“I can only assume that what Ferrari has put on the car complies to the letter with these new regulations,” Anderson continued. “You can see that the outer three are a bit different from the inner two, so it seems Ferrari is trying to get around this regulation by saying they are used for different purposes. Good luck with that!’ In addition to complying with the regulations, there is always the question of what is called ‘primary purpose’. So if there is something about the car that is legal and ostensibly for one reason – in this case to maintain the slot gap – but the FIA ​​thinks it is for another reason – for example aerodynamic gain – then you can go into the problems come.

“It seems that Ferrari has generated a more one-sided aerodynamic profile”

During the 2022 season, then Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto admitted that the Ferrari car can only really deliver performance if the car is ‘flattened completely flat’ in the aerodynamic settings and therefore experiences the least resistance. “It seems that Ferrari has generated a more one-sided aerodynamic profile, a bit like an inverted wing. This is optimized to manage the airflow coming off the trailing edge of the front wing and realign it as best as possible to improve the performance of the sidepod’s leading edge,” Anderson notes.

“The rear suspension is operated with a pushrod, which is very similar in layout to last year. But the front leg seems to have a slightly lower mounted upper wishbone mount, which gives more anti-lift to reduce rear ride height change under braking.” The actual housing in the coke bottle area – where the body narrows towards the rear tires – is slightly more convex and takes up part of the coke bottle opening. “This is an area that differs dramatically with the Ferrari compared to the other cars we’ve already seen, and I’m not sure I’m a fan of this solution,” said the Briton.

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