Ferrari SF-26

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Stu
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Thread locked for maintenance…
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

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Stu
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Stu wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 09:48
Thread locked for maintenance…
..and now open again!

The discussion around the rear wing has been moved to its own thread, some content around engines (2019!!) has been deemed “off-topic” & deleted, other posts around current engine philosophy have been moved to the 2026 cars general thread.

It was a bit of a job deciding where to split some of the discussions, so I left original comments in place and split it out where the original quote responses first evolve into non-Ferrari specific discussions. Apologies if it looks a bit of a mess!!
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

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sucof
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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AR3-GP wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 09:14
You can see the heat haze of the exhaust above the rear wing.

https://i.postimg.cc/wxQvgzJL/image.png
I am not sure if this image shows anything. This would be useful if it would be in comparison the same car without the monkey grill flap.
Air is moving sharply up on F1 cars since many decades, at the back.
So the effect is more localised, and some improvement, not something we could see from one such image.
But a nice image overall :)

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sucof
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Farnborough wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 09:36
A good image to illustrate the exhaust blown effect.

Note, they are running virtually flat for rake too under dynamic load. Any static rear geometry being compressed to what is effectively a non compressing front suspension strategy.
This might be at high speed, where raked cars are usually go flat anyways. The true usefulness of this system (high rake with specific rear suspension) is that the car will raise its back up at slow speeds to create downforce in the corner, and flattens out at high speeds to lower drag and downforce)

Farnborough
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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sucof wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 14:52
Farnborough wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 09:36
A good image to illustrate the exhaust blown effect.

Note, they are running virtually flat for rake too under dynamic load. Any static rear geometry being compressed to what is effectively a non compressing front suspension strategy.
This might be at high speed, where raked cars are usually go flat anyways. The true usefulness of this system (high rake with specific rear suspension) is that the car will raise its back up at slow speeds to create downforce in the corner, and flattens out at high speeds to lower drag and downforce)
Undoubtedly a higher speed (by blur on Pirelli tyre logo, plus the amount of tyre lateral deformation from stress) but indicates a difference from running rake .... in it's entirety and like RB did prior to 2022 rules .... instead of static rake visible in many chassis this year, but flattening quickly to give nominally no rake except under braking.

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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Image
Beware of T-Rex

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Stu
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Makes sense for the third flap to be adjustable relative to the second one (as a separate entity to the wing activation).
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aberracus
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Do the rules forbid explicity someone to control the frontal wings AOA electronically? changing AOA for different corners would be great.

Frank73
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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aberracus wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 18:16
Do the rules forbid explicity someone to control the frontal wings AOA electronically? changing AOA for different corners would be great.
I was wondering whether they could have both the activation mechanisms (direct and inverted) available at the same time

Seanspeed
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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aberracus wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 18:16
Do the rules forbid explicity someone to control the frontal wings AOA electronically? changing AOA for different corners would be great.
Think you can only have two different positions via active aero.

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PlatinumZealot
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Chuckjr wrote:
24 Feb 2026, 06:02
Time to boost the electricity to those actuators Ferrari. That is absurdly beyond 400ms...
i think they rotated it slowly to gather load data.
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matteosc
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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Frank73 wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 18:28
aberracus wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 18:16
Do the rules forbid explicity someone to control the frontal wings AOA electronically? changing AOA for different corners would be great.
I was wondering whether they could have both the activation mechanisms (direct and inverted) available at the same time
That would go against the active aero surfaces...

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sucof
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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aberracus wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 18:16
Do the rules forbid explicity someone to control the frontal wings AOA electronically? changing AOA for different corners would be great.
I guess this is against one of the oldest rules in F1. You are not allowed to adjust any aero during the race. The only exception is the flaps in the box.

aberracus
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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But are we sure that the rules have that active aero rules now, with the straight mode? maybe they can go back from straight mode to curve 1 or curve 10, varying the degrees of AOA in each curve. Probably everybody would have it now if the FIA let something like that open.

matteosc
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Re: Ferrari SF-26

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aberracus wrote:
25 Feb 2026, 20:40
But are we sure that the rules have that active aero rules now, with the straight mode? maybe they can go back from straight mode to curve 1 or curve 10, varying the degrees of AOA in each curve. Probably everybody would have it now if the FIA let something like that open.
Straight mode can be activated only in the zones defined, same as the old DRS.
It is also part of the rules that a fixed and constant angle of attack must be used for straight mode.