Ferrari 676: a project with some courageous choices. While waiting for the new red to be seen on February 13th or 15th (reserve date), the first rumors are starting to filter out about the car which is being looked after by Enrico Cardile. The Scuderia has capitalized on the “mistakes” that emerged from the SF-23 and the inspirations that came from the best competition, to launch a single-seater that will have a completely new body and a gearbox that will respond to a concept: miniaturization of the transmission box.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
According to rumors, the length of the gearbox will not change, so the wheelbase of the 676 will not change substantially compared to the wheelbase of the SF-23, but the effort that has been made is to gain about 20 mm on each side in width. The advantage will be to have a larger diffuser slide, capable of making the car more efficient which, at least on paper, should generate more load with the car body, being able to reduce the resistance of the wings and therefore allowing profiles, with chord and minor incidences.
The exercise is more complex than it might seem for three reasons: a narrower transmission must find the same levels of torsional resistance to avoid losses in rigidity which would have harmful effects on the car's handling on the track. The Cavallino technicians have set themselves very ambitious objectives because it will be possible to obtain a small weight saving which will be associated with the mainly aerodynamic advantage, but the other significant difficulty is making the internal part of the rear suspension fit.
As we anticipated on Motorsport.com, the scheme will remain the known one of the pull rod, but the design of the kinematics will be totally revised, following some Red Bull concepts (the RB19 is push rod). We will see more misaligned arms both behind and front, looking for mechanical advantages. At the rear, the front arm of the upper multilink will be decidedly inclined downwards to increase the anti-squat effect, while at the front there will be an inverted design to favor anti-dive.
What are we talking about? Of useful schemes to avoid the excessive sinking of the nose during braking and the equivalent crouching of the rear axle during acceleration. Being able to stabilize the behavior of the “body” would mean having a Ferrari that is less sensitive to variations in height from the asphalt and, therefore, with fewer sudden load losses which are so harmful to the health of the tyres.
The bellies will be more sloping, according to Red Bull dictates, and the radiator mouth will have a narrower front section, to increase the air flow which will be directed under the side, in a decidedly more flared undercut compared to that of the SF- 23 because the lower anti-intrusion cone will be embedded in the bottom and will no longer protrude to dirty the flow pattern on the pavement.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Red Bull Racing RB19, detail of the keel chassis at the front. Will the 676 be similar?
Even on the chassis there is the expectation of gaining weight and we shouldn't be surprised if at the front we see the keel shape that Adrian Newey has bet on in 2023. In Sports Management there is a positive climate which seems to be corroborated by the new arrivals from Red Bull and Mercedes who speak of a red car capable of aligning itself with the choices of the best competition, without distorting its basic concepts.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Ferrari SF-23: the 066/10 power unit
The other Enrico, the head of the Gualtieri engines, is continuing to refine the management strategies of the power unit, for better use of the hybrid, continuing a work that has opened a new avenue of development since mid-championship and which has allowed the SF-23 to extract all the potential it contained, also reducing tire wear thanks to a less brutal and aggressive delivery of electric power.
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