Fred Vasseur kept his word
“We will continue to develop regularly until the end of the season,” said Frederic Vasseur at the end of the very difficult weekend of the Italian GP in Monza. A phrase that gives fans hope to see by the end of the year a Ferrari SF-26 even closer to the top because, if it is true that the main problem of this year’s car is the power deficit from the engine, it is equally clear how the chassis and aerodynamic qualities sometimes allow Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to battle at the top, depending on the tracks. And also in Madrid, in fact, the team principal of the Prancing Horse kept his word with the arrival of a small aerodynamic novelty installed on the rear suspension.
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The novelty on Ferrari’s rear suspension
The Ferrari in Madring version is indeed continuing the development of micro-aerodynamics by bringing to the track a complete reshaping of the carbon cover that wraps the second arm of the rear suspension. The attention of the Maranello engineers focused particularly on the trailing edge, indicated by the arrow in the photo, which becomes less extreme to reduce the downwash effect. There is therefore less aerodynamic flow pushing downwards with the intent to perfect the interaction of the flows on the rear area of the SF-26. And, at least in the hopes of the technicians who approved this novelty, to gain a bit more aerodynamic downforce (and therefore performance on track).
A novelty that certifies the will to continue pushing even on a decidedly atypical street circuit like the Spanish GP in Madrid, seeking downforce on the rear. Moreover, the suspension area is considered particularly crucial on such a track: according to the calculations of our Federico Albano in his Friday analysis, at Madring there is an extra vertical load of 1.7-1.8 G on the cars which obviously affects the suspension setup and floor wear. The small aerodynamic update of the cover on the Ferrari SF-26 suspension therefore highlights the engineers’ need to focus (also) on aerodynamic flows and find that aerodynamic downforce that could prove crucial in the Q3 challenge.
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