The wait is considerable. There’s no point in going around it. The weekend of the Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix risks becoming a real watershed in the 2024 Formula One World Championship. Racing will return to the Santerno track after the painful cancellation a year ago due to the terrible flood that devastated the area and this, in itself, gives a particular emotion to the Imola event.
Returning to the track, then, all the curiosity will revolve around Ferrari. Not so much because the Prancing Horse team races at home, but because of the substantial package of updates that will be proposed during the Romagna weekend. We will see a deeply revised and corrected SF-24. A sort of version 2.0, to respond to the innovations already introduced by Red Bull, Mercedes and, above all, McLaren.
The team led by Frederic Vasseur plays a lot, if not all, with this update package. So much so that in recent days, to get further confirmation, the two cars clocked up kilometers at a filming day in Fiorano. The Emilian team often missed the opportunity for developments during the championship. This time it won’t have to happen, so as not to have to throw away the entire 2024 vintage very early. Specifically, therefore, what will be the changes on the red car?
In the meantime, let’s quantify these new developments. There will be 8. As Giorgio Piola highlighted on Motorsport.com the first major development will concern the design of the bellies. The mouth of the radiators, in fact, no longer has the lower tray as an extension of the cooling system intake, but has adopted the Red Bull and McLaren style upper visor. In this way the air flow towards the bottom will increase, thanks to a decidedly more excavated undercut.
The direction taken by the Maranello engineers is that of one “cleanliness” at an aerodynamic level to reduce drag and increase straight-line speed. The SF-24 sees the by-pass duct. The vertical air intake remained, but its use changed: the duct was converted as on the RB20 to a cooling function. The S-duct air vent has disappeared on the sides of the Halo therefore also the bottom has been completely redesigned. Halfway along the side, the orientation of the diverters of flow that must push the air past the rear wheel to make the low pressure area that follows more efficient.
There is also news in this area: a blowingjust as one appeared further in the queue double opening. Also the engine hood it has not been free from changes: a noticeable vent of hot air stands out, demonstrating a different cooling system. The effect can be observed by looking the rear wing which, finally, will be able to have a more downloadable configuration than what we have seen so far. The increase in downforce, combined with drag reduction, it should allow Ferrari to correct flaws in faster corners.
