Yesterday the Scuderia Ferrari took to the track at Fiorano to test the mud flaps designed by the FIA to solve the problem of low visibility in the rain
May 10, 2024
THEThe 2024 Miami Grand Prix is now behind us and a week’s break separates us from the seventh Formula 1 round of the season, the GP of Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna. While waiting for the first of the two races on Italian soil, Scuderia Ferrari took to the track in Fiorano for a two-day filming day. Yesterday, the Maranello team tested with Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc the new mudflaps designed by the FIA to reduce the problem of visibility on the track during the race weekend. Here’s what we know
DTwo weeks separate us from the 2024 Imola Grand Prix which could prove to be the turning point for the 2024 world championship. In fact, for this appointment there are substantial update packages for Ferrari but also for Red Bull. Today, the Maranello team had the opportunity to test these innovations on the SF-24, alternating driving with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. However, yesterday the work focused on new mudflaps designed by the FIA solve problems in extremely wet conditions, with a particular tire cover. The project was born as early as 2022 but was destined to fail when an initial test session carried out at Silverstone proved to be substantially unsuccessful. The Federation, however, did not give up and proceeded to find another solution.
Gabriele Pirovano
LThe FIA developed a sort of basket that was tested on the F1-75 driven by Arthur Leclerc with Arthur Leclerc’s SF-24 nearby. These prototypes of covered wheels are Carbon tire fairingsthink about study what the actual flow of water can be generated and identify what the limit threshold is that makes driving dangerous for those following on the track due to poor visibility. The Fiorano track, approved to have only one car on the track at a time, was artificially wetted to allow the use of full wet tyres. Leclerc jr used before completely closed splash guards and then move on to a second open version.
Gabriele Pirovano
TOThe FIA’s other objective for this session was to understand what the water flow generated by the lifting of the tires when passing on the track and what is instead that produced by the rear diffuser. From the images leaked from Fiorano it can be deduced that in reality theThe water raised by the suction of the bottom due to the ground effect is significantly higher than that absorbed by the carbon basket placed on the tires. It therefore seems that this test also had a substantially negative outcome, thus forcing the FIA to find a further solution for this Wet Weather Package which they would like to debut in 2026 with the new regulation change.
Drawings made by Gabriele Pirovano
