How Ferrari has cut to the chase with its new F1 design

The stated aim is for a more manageable car, with a broader setup window, that’s easier to drive and quick across the course of an entire race weekend.

Delving into the changes made by the Scuderia, we’ll start with the sidepods. At the start of last season, Ferrari decided to hold firm and committed to its bathtub-style sidepod solution.

But that design wasn’t long for this world, with the arrangement abandoned midway through the campaign in favour of a hybrid version of the downwash ramp-style solution seen elsewhere on the grid.

It was unable to fully commit to the change, however, owing to the position of the lower side-impact spar (SIS), which remained enclosed within the sidepod, rather than being mounted lower and enclosed within the structure of the floor.

The SF-24’s design rectifies this, allowing the team to fully embrace the performance advantages that can be obtained from a much deeper undercut section, with a notable bulge in the forward section of the floor taking care of the lower SIS.

In terms of the undercut, which is further enlarged by the Scuderia’s adoption of the lower lip underbite inlet design, first championed by Red Bull, the lower chassis bypass duct has reprised its role, with the outlet positioned alongside the rear leg of the halo.

It’s here where you’ll also find an interesting piece of aerodynamic furniture, as the team have added a robust flow conditioner that sprouts out from the side of the halo and droops down to meet with the bypass duct’s outlet.

Returning to the undercut, it wraps down low and tight as the upper section of the bodywork creates a high waist that’s much wider to not only manage flow to the rear of the car but also help deal with the turbulence created by the front wheel assembly.

Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Ferrari

Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Ferrari

The remainder of the sidepod bodywork represents a well refined variant of the downwash ramp-style solution we’ve seen elsewhere, complete with a rearward focused waterslide gulley that draws flow down into the coke bottle region, aided by a high sided shoulder.

Meanwhile, the airbox and rollover remains faithful to its predecessor, featuring a triangular inlet but, there’s a distinct lack of aerodynamic trinkets surrounding this region for 2024, with the team having surrounded it with all manner of winglets in the last few years.

The engine cover…