By Carlo Platella
Expectations for Ferrari are lower on the eve of Silverstone, after the decline in performance seen in Spain and Austria. The Prancing Horse is struggling with the bouncing that the Reds have suffered from again in the high-speed curves with the latest updates introduced in Barcelona. However, the Maranello team has no intention of going back, convinced that it can adjust the set-up to extract the full potential of the new package. To achieve this, it will be essential to have a dry Friday at Silverstone, to complete all the planned experiments.
Latent potential
At the moment the main point at Ferrari is the increase in downforce and aerodynamic efficiency recorded with the updates brought to Barcelona, in line with expectations. “The numbers we expected from these updates are respected, therefore they work as they should”, Charles Leclerc’s confirmation to the press presents at Silverstone, including FormulaPassion. “It’s about understanding how to fine-tune the setup to optimize these numbers.”
The difficulties for the Prancing Horse arise from the side effects of the new package. Since Barcelona, the SF-24 has once again suffered from bouncing in high-speed corners, a scenario in which the car is closer to the ground and the airflow under the car reaches a condition of instability that triggers bouncing. The pilots are thus forced to lift their footas well as having to deal with the overheating of the tyres caused by micro-slips on the asphalt.
The problem, however, is not so much the fund introduced in Spain, but the fact that it can no longer be used with the previous mechanical set-up without triggering porpoising. “It’s not something specific to these updates, but how you set up the car”, Leclerc explains. Depending on the direction you push, you run into one problem rather than another. We struggled to find the optimal setup with which to make the new package work and extract the maximum potential”. Something that for once even Carlos Sainz agrees with: “This package has the potential to be optimized. In the short term, we want to understand whether we have taken a step in the right direction, because it can help us decide how to proceed with future developments”.
Setup to be fixed
Ferrari studies like this an adjustment of the suspension setup to clean the SF-24 from the annoying bouncing. The solution is a matter of compromise between two aspects. On the one hand, increasing the height of the car from the ground distances that condition of instability of the air flow that causes the bounces, sacrificing however the aerodynamic load released. To contain the losses it is however also possible to act on springs and shock absorbers, in search of adjustments that dampen the oscillations in curves, possibly without compromising balance and mechanical grip.
For this reason, the last two weeks of the Cavallino have been marked by experimentation. “We are trying to be more focused on how the car should be prepared,” Leclerc continues. “In the last two races we tested the machines in profoundly different configurations in terms of set-up and I hope this helps us learn and solve these problems.” The Monegasque adds: “I think it’s about optimizing the package, so It’s something that can be fixed in the short term. We already have some ideas of the direction to work in, as seen from the tests carried out with the two cars in different configurations in the last races. I don’t think it’s something that cannot be solved in the short term”.
Rain nightmare
In the immediate post-race in Austria, Frederic Vasseur stressed the importance of the two free practice sessions scheduled at Silverstone, after the frenetic Sprint format of the Austrian weekend. In England, Ferrari will have to make the most of the time on track to find the right set-up adjustment to exploit the new package. “They will be useful if it doesn’t rain, but rain is forecast at the moment.”, comments Leclerc. “If so, the tests we have scheduled on both machines will have to be postponed until the next race. We are still trying to understand how to set up the car to maximise the potential of these updates.” If successful, Ferrari could return to having important ambitions: “If we can make the step forward that we expect to make soon, we would return to fight for victory”, concludes number 16.
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