By winning the last two Grands Prix, the Scuderia put itself back in the race for the constructors' title, to everyone's surprise. Story of a rebirth in the style of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
With two victories in a row in the United States and Mexico, the Prancing Horse has regained momentum. Progress, however, dates back to the Italian Grand Prix, since which the team scored 167 points, the highest score, ahead of McLaren (162), Mercedes (90) and Red Bull (78).
Since the introduction of a substantial upgrade at Monza (detailed here), the SF-24 has made huge strides in performance, both in qualifying and racing.
The new flat bottom opened up more tuning options, allowing engineers to run the car lower without having to deal with pumping issues. As for the new design of the diffuser (evoking the keel of a boat), it helped to stabilize the flow of air flow. Certainly, the maximum downforce it generates in ideal conditions is undoubtedly lower, but it varies less at different ride heights.
Progress finally visible
After stabilizing the load created at the rear of the car, Ferrari introduced a new front wing in Singapore, in order to move the center of pressure a little further forward. This new wing deforms advantageously at high speed, like those of Mercedes and McLaren, declared compliant by the FIA. The possibility of the flaps flattening at high speed allowed the Italian engineers to set the car with a lot of downforce (which is essential for negotiating slow corners), knowing that it would not be penalized by the drag that would occur. normally without this deformation. This tip makes the car more aero-balanced over a wide spectrum of speeds and reduces tire degradation during a stint.
These new features have improved the SF-24's handling, particularly in slow corners, where it is the fastest on the grid. Maranello engineers can run the car lower and with softer suspension settings, very useful on circuits where curbs have to be crossed (like in Mexico and Singapore – where Leclerc and Sainz, however, missed their mark). qualification). The fin has been further refined in the United States, not in its shape but in its flexibility, if rumor from the paddock is to be believed.
That said, the SF-24 still has shortcomings compared to the McLaren benchmark. Firstly, it does not use the soft tires perfectly in qualifying. In the timed exercise, it actually struggled to warm up the tires during qualifying, even if Sainz found the solution in Mexico, as we explain here.
Adapted settings
Second, its high-speed cornering performance is not on par with its rivals. Thus, the Ferrari suffered in the intermediate sector of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, unlike the MCL38, which was very comfortable in this sequence of moderately fast corners.
“I think the developments have helped us, for sure, analysis Sainz. But the circuit characteristics are also an important factor. I don't expect to be on pole in Qatar, as we are very weak at high speed. But when it came to low speed, tight corners and good grip in Mexico, I said we had a good chance, and that's what happened.
If the developments have borne fruit, better tuning has also played a role, as Jock Clear explains:
“I think we made a mistake in Austria, which is a very similar circuit to Austin, which is quite funny. Since the summer break, we've really figured out which direction to go, both development and tuning.
“Austin was proof that the new features worked, but we also corrected the tuning errors made in Austria.”
It sometimes takes two or three races to find the right settings with changes. Which explains the delay between Monza and the recent successes. The Reds' double in Mexico, following on from the 1-2 in Austin, allowed them to overtake Red Bull in the provisional constructors' standings and reduce their deficit on McLaren to 29 points.
If Qatar will undoubtedly be a difficult weekend, Ferrari can hope to shine on the night of Las Vegas, while Brazil and Abu Dhabi are unknown in terms of the competitiveness of the SF-24. First elements of response this weekend.
