F1, Ferrari: new SF-24 front wing opens up more setup options for Maranello engineers
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Ferrari realistically gathered less than what was possible in the Singapore Grand Prix, partly due to a problematic Saturday at the 4.94-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit that forced both SF-24 cars to start from the fifth row. During the comeback, however, Charles Leclerc showed some excellent pace, demonstrating that with a more straightforward race, the Maranello team could have aimed for a much better result, if not even for the race win with the Monegasque driver.
In the next round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, as confirmed by Team Principal Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari will bring further aerodynamic updates, but something was already seen in Singapore, namely a new front wing. Ferrari managed to introduce the new component a few weeks earlier than expected, presenting a front wing with a renewed design in many of its elements, including the upper flaps, the central part of the mainplane, and the junction with the endplates.
In recent months, front wings have been a widely discussed topic, especially regarding the controversy surrounding McLaren and Mercedes front wings, which were able to flex significantly, though the FIA gave the green light to their solutions for the rest of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Aeroelasticity was also addressed at Maranello, but the new specification presents several other characteristics worth exploring.
Looking back, at some points during this season, the two Ferrari drivers complained about a lack of front-end grip, especially in long corners where strong front-end support is crucial, an area McLaren has worked on extensively over the past two years. This was evident on a medium-to-high-downforce track like Zandvoort, where, despite the excellent race podium, the SF-24’s issues in handling high-speed sections, which have never been the car's strength, became clearer during qualifying.
More specifically, in long sweeping corners or in sections with combined braking, the Maranello car still showed more difficulty compared to its rivals.
Speaking about this new wing, English senior performance engineer Jock Clear confirmed that it will provide more front-end downforce, opening up more setup options thanks to improved balance between the front and rear, especially on tracks where greater downforce is required. For example, in Singapore, teams tend to use the rear wing with the maximum possible load, also to protect the rear tires, which are more stressed by the many traction zones exiting tight low-speed corners, but also by faster sections where the rear tires often overheat and tend to slide, such as in the final corner.
Despite the fact that the Ferrari SF-24 single-seater has never really struggled in tight corners, there was still room to improve the performance in longer corners, like turns 9 or 10 at the Marina Bay street circuit. McLaren, which has worked hard on this issue over the past year after suffering from a lack of front-end downforce, especially in slow corners, was the most effective during the weekend, having found an aerodynamic and mechanical balance that made the MCL38 competitive in a wide range of scenarios.
“On a track like Singapore, for example, you want to have maximum rear downforce, but you also need to find the right balance. In Singapore, balance is everything. On some high-downforce circuits, we struggled a bit because we didn't have enough front-end support. So, this wing is designed with more load at the upper end and is slightly more efficient. This gives us a bit more margin," explained Jock Clear.
On a track like Singapore, where a highly loaded rear wing is used, the concern was also that the limitations of the SF-24’s front end could be accentuated in certain situations, and it's no coincidence that even with the new wing, they opted for maximum downforce, also choosing a nolder at the front, which wasn’t present on other cars. Therefore, with this update, the goal was not only to provide more front-end support but also to achieve a better balance between the front and rear, giving the drivers a potentially better-balanced car.
This does not mean that the new wing will only be useful on extremely high-downforce tracks, like Mexico due to the thin air, but it should also represent an evolutionary step on medium-to-high downforce tracks where the front end plays a critical role.
“Essentially, with the new wing, it’s about shifting more load towards the inside. If you look closely, you’ll see how the inner part of the wing is now more aggressive, while the outer part is less so. We’ve slightly changed the dynamics of its function. This has allowed us to increase the downforce a bit," added Ferrari’s Senior Performance Engineer.
In fact, this solution should open up a wider range of setup configurations for the rest of the season, also providing more confidence in sections that demand a lot from the front end, reducing the limitations encountered throughout the season. Additionally, it will provide the engineers with valuable data for the future, as confirmed by Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur himself, since the technicians and engineers in Maranello are already working on the development of the 2025 Formula 1 car, which is currently being evaluated in the wind tunnel.
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