Scuderia Ferrari SF71H

[rkn]

Annual sign of spring, a flexing Ferrari front wing



Wonder if it's simply case of aero unloading or if it's deliberate engineering, as I'm sure they've passed all FIA tests.

[RZS10]

Their wings were flexing in the exact same way throughout the entire last season ... nothing new

[Silent Storm]

New inlet on both the sides, picture by Scarbs

[Mr.G]

Annual sign of spring, a flexing Ferrari front wing

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a147/ ... arifw2.gif

Wonder if it's simply case of aero unloading or if it's deliberate engineering, as I'm sure they've passed all FIA tests.

It's not the best shot to see it (may be it's just shadows), but it looks like the middle section of the FW (where the nose tip is) is looking like almost touching the ground...

[Mr.G]

New inlet on both the sides, picture by Scarbs
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGuvYW0AIwh0p.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGv7kXkAAgwUb.jpg

[Mr.G]

New inlet on both the sides, picture by Scarbs
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGuvYW0AIwh0p.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGv7kXkAAgwUb.jpg

Probably additional cooling for hot weather races...

[roon]

New inlet on both the sides, picture by Scarbs
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGuvYW0AIwh0p.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaMGv7kXkAAgwUb.jpg

Probably additional cooling for hot weather races...

Probably, although I wonder if it could be part of halo aero management.

[LM10]

Thank you for the article.

So, no new floor, no changes to the diffuser and also no changes on bargeboard-area (which on some pictures seemed so). They just switched to the frontwing which was mounted on the presentation and made a slight change to the central channel.
This also means that the new floor will come to China, as said before.

This quote from the Italian article describes the exact modification to the diffuser being discussed here, it does not say there were no changes:

"Compared to the Australian version, the Maranello team has made a small change to the central channel that, in the version seen today in the pits, seems to have a more squared shape compared to the previous version.

A solution that guarantees a better stability in the generated load, losing theoretically in expansion (to be evaluated, on the other hand, a possible slight increase in the rake angle)."

That's true, thank you. I wonder, how much of an increase in performance it made.
According to Vettel the major changes they made were setup wise. They understood the problems and the car itself even more after Melbourne and tried different setups in Bahrain.

[ScrewCaptain27]

Beautiful diagram by Giorgio Piola, clearly showing the channel underneath the gearbox that acts almost as another diffuser.

[LM10]

Nice diagram, thank you.

Does anyone know if or how Ferrari changed the diffuser in comparison to Melbourne? Reportedly there was a slight change to the channel seen in the diagram, but I've not found any more details on it.
Looking at the comments from Vettel the increase in performance came almost only from trying and finding better setups. I'm excited to see the first bigger aero upgrades such as the new floor in China.

Secondly, having seen 2 races already, what do you guys think of the concept of SF71H? It now has almost the same wheelbase as Mercedes, but at the same time one of the highest rakes on the grid and this combination makes it unique as there is no other car like that. In theory this combination should not just give them a fast car on tracks with high speed corners, but also let the car remain it's strenghts on twisty tracks (even though presumably not as strong as the SF70H was). On top of that they seem to have successfully reduced drag which also makes them quick on the straights.

On the other hand, this unique concept might give them a hard time to find the right setup. A bit of sacrificing something to achieve something else.

[MtthsMlw]

AFAIK they only changed the central section of the diffuser, making it a bit more squared.
It makes me optimistic to see that the much better pace in Bahrain is mainly due to better set up work. They already seem to understand the car better, of course this could be only due to the track's characteristics.

I think you've already said everything important about the SF71H.

I'm curious to see what the update will look like in China, although to be honest I'm not quite sure if it will come at all. Hard to say, every year there is always the same speculation about all these updates and stuff like that.

Monaco will be very interesting, too. I'm curious to see how the car will behave on high df/low speed tracks. I wouldn't be surprised if Red Bull will be fastes on these types of circuits like Monaco, Hungary and Singapore.

[Vettel165]

A fantastic article about SF71H (Ferrari).
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferra ... o-1023467/

With the lengthening of the SF71H wheelbase estimated to be less than 100 mm compared to 2017, the mechanical parts could be removed from the most neuralgic area of ​​the bottom, allowing the body to create more aerodynamic load, preventing the Ferrari drivers from loading too much the incidence of wings that, instead, costs a lot in resistance to progress.

At the speed trap the Ferrari were faster than the Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen reached 327.1 km/h against the 325.3 km /h of Lewis Hamilton, a sign that there was a clear turnaround compared to last year.

So far, Ferrari has not yet achieved the best aerodynamic balance: a new floor will debut in China that should make the SF71H even more stable (rear of the car). To overcome the problem that emerged during the winter tests, in Australia there was a tie on the bottom that was further changed for the Sakhir.

FLuidd: I am sorry buddy, dont have a clue.

[FLuidd]

A fantastic article about SF71H (Ferrari).
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferra ... o-1023467/

With the lengthening of the SF71H wheelbase estimated to be less than 100 mm compared to 2017, the mechanical parts could be removed from the most neuralgic area of ​​the bottom, allowing the body to create more aerodynamic load, preventing the Ferrari drivers from loading too much the incidence of wings that, instead, costs a lot in resistance to progress.

At the speed trap the Ferrari were faster than the Mercedes: Kimi Raikkonen reached 327.1 km/h against the 325.3 km /h of Lewis Hamilton, a sign that there was a clear turnaround compared to last year.

So far, Ferrari has not yet achieved the best aerodynamic balance: a new floor will debut in China that should make the SF71H even more stable (rear of the car). To overcome the problem that emerged during the winter tests, in Australia there was a tie on the bottom that was further changed for the Sakhir.

What does this mean?

in Australia there was a tie on the bottom that was further changed for the Sakhir.

tie on the bottom?

[Speed_399]

I'm italian but my traslation skills are not very good, anyway the right word instead of "tie" should be rod

[outsid3r]

I'm italian but my traslation skills are not very good, anyway the right word instead of "tie" should be rod

'Tirante' is something that pulls... like a pull rod? pulling device/mechanism?