F1 | Ferrari Tech: Here’s the Extractor Keel, Then the Flexible Wings

Ferrari is confident of repeating a positive performance in Baku after Charles Leclerc’s success in the Italian GP. The Prancing Horse team, with the aerodynamic package that debuted in Monza, should have mitigated the bouncing of the SF-24 that has heavily affected the behavior of the red car after the introduction of a new floor since the Barcelona race, but in particular it would have understood how to make the single-seater more balanced.

The key to the competitiveness of ground effect single-seaters lies in balance, the most frequently heard “bad word” among engineers in recent months: for each track, the balance between the front and rear axles must be found during sudden load variations during the passages of driven sections and those at high speed.

Achieving neutral behaviour is worth much more today than finding aerodynamic load in the wind tunnel, because it means being able to limit tyre degradation and the risk of overheating, lengthening race stints without sudden drops in performance.

The Scuderia won in the temple of speed by being able to implement a one-stop race strategy, while the chasing McLarens with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had to surrender at the second stop.

Did the red team play a trump card at Monza, or did it start a positive cycle that could extend to Baku and Singapore? This is the response that Diego Tondi’s aerodynamicists expect at Maranello.

There are many expectations for the SF-24 in the demanding Azeri trip: the wings are no longer the ultra-low ones specifically designed for the Italian race (which will come in handy in Las Vegas), but the rest of the Monza package should be suitable for the needs of a street track that combines a guided section where traction is required and another very fast section, given that there is in fact a 2.2 km straight.

The sleeker nose and slimmer engine cover under the bazooka, together with the new floor, gave the Ferrari a handling that allowed the red car to be particularly kind to the tyres.

Ferrari SF-24: here is the new fund that debuted at the Italian Grand Prix

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

In the Brianza meeting we had described in particular the visible changes brought to the pavement which has been redesigned with completely different air passages, but we had not managed to analyse the rear diffuser in detail.

Ferrari has done a lot of work in the wind tunnel to revise the flow pattern. Giorgio Piola’s drawing shows us two important aspects: first, the extractor in the lower central part (red arrow) actually has the pointed shape of a boat’s keel, while in the upper area we can see two carbon ribs that direct the wake flows in a decidedly different way.

If the positive impressions are confirmed in Baku and Singapore, Ferrari will introduce a further update to the front wing in Austin, taking advantage of the month-long break in F1.

Now that the FIA ​​has made it official that the McLaren and Mercedes profiles are perfectly regular even though they show in TV images that they flex and rotate, reducing resistance to forward motion in fast sections, but ensuring the essential load in slow sections, it is likely that the Scuderia will respond with its own interpretation of the rule that could open up a line of research to be applied to the 2025 single-seater.

This is why the investment that has been allocated would not be “burned” only for the SF-24 but would also have a positive impact next year.