Ferrari F138

[stefan_]

What on earth can they be covering with the towels? May they be just fast cooling that area of bodywork when in pits?

That is the purpose of the towels.

[muelte]

Yeah, McLaren used towels most of past season IIRC, nothing new and simply cooling (and prevent burning hands also, I suppose)

[Forza]

BCN T03 - Day 4

[f300v10]

Nice shots of the new diffuser, thanks. The gurney has returned to wrapping around the corners, and the 'dips' above the fences are gone as well. The bulge below crash structure is also deeper, so some fairly significant changes here.

[f300v10]

So overall during this last test we have seen a major exhaust/sidepod exit change, new front brake ducts, new front wing and new rear wing. Hopefully all these new parts have delivered the performance benefit Ferrari expected.

[Kalsi]

Did anyone notice they are running Asimmetrically? On the right maybe they are trying the "old" sidepod configuration as you can see there's not the big cooling outlet like on the left side

[amouzouris]

Did anyone notice they are running Asimmetrically? On the right maybe they are trying the "old" sidepod configuration as you can see there's not the big cooling outlet like on the left side

it is not asymmetrical!

[Nando]

that´s one tiny radiator.

[Forza Ferrari]

With so much floor space spared, what benefits are they trying to make ?
Mainly DF or could it impact tyre degradation as well? what do you guys think about their cooling exits management? what can we expect for upgrades on melbourne?

IMHO, if they managed to reduce the gap down to 0.4 or 0.5 sec, we can be reasonably happy, and confident for the tittle race. But if they are still 0.7 or 0.8 sec off the pace, then this season will be a repeat of 2012 ...

[Kalsi]

Sorry for the previous post guys... The perspective was tricking me out...

As far as i saw and understood from the varoius pics and flow vis Ferrari did, i think they are trying to replicate the redbull's tunnels under the exausts. RB got it by phisically forcing the flow coming from the bottom of the sidepods into a tunnel wich is leading on top of the diffuser (correct me if im wrong). Ferrari is trying to do the same thing but IMHO in a little more "smarty" way... in fact if you check some pages back into this topic, you can notice how some flow vis runs showed that the VERY curvy sidepods are doing their job pretty nice...

The ending part of the sidepod, wich is containing the exhaust, has a very good amount of surface in its bottom part too to manage a quite big amount of airflow wich, by again the coanda effect, stays attached to the chassis, becomes then sealed in a sort of "virtual" tunnel by the exhaust exit and leads then on top of the diffuser (where the 2 sidepods big exits are leading too). This could be proven by the fact that in the last 2 testing days they tried to increase this "sealing effect" by adjusting the exhaust a little bit more facing downward...
So by watching the 2 solutions i think they are trying to achieve the same result but for sure with some differences...

RB's solution
pros:
1- they are sure the air is where they want it to be cause cause the air is actually forced into a real tunnel
2- can have multiple tunnels to divide and use the flow for more than 1 purpose
cons:
1- looking at the dimension of the holes the amount of air that can be managed is not that much

Ferrari's solution:
pros:
- A MUCH higher amount of flow is being sealed in a tunnel wich is a virtual one (but proven to work by the flow vis)
cons:
- Can be reasonable to think its a more difficult and tricky solution to set-up correctly for maximum gain

What do you guys think?

[Forza]

"During these days of testing we have just concentrated on our own work programme. There are some quick cars but frankly our attention has been very much on the work linked to the F138’s development, collecting data on the new parts that we have brought, especially in this final test. The positive thing is that our aerodynamic simulations – both from the wind tunnel and CFD – have given us the results we had been hoping to see on the track. You can never have a 100% correlation but this is an encouraging sign for the new parts that we aim to bring to the first races, starting in Melbourne."

[Hail22]

[markp]

I loose track of all the photos but the diffuser on the last day had the flap above it curved all the way round but other days it was along the top and stopped as the diffuser steps down at the sides. they had these 2 solutions last year. whats the advantages disadvantages of the 2 versions of the flap running ontop of the diffuser?

[Rockatansky]

Barcelona (Test 3, Session 2) - Day 4 (03.03.2013)

http://img2.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 665396.jpg

http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 665395.jpg

Apologies if these have been mentioned already and I am simply blind, but those large curved pieces on the floor next to the rear wheels are new right?

[Redragon]

Barcelona (Test 3, Session 2) - Day 4 (03.03.2013)

http://img2.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 665396.jpg

http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 665395.jpg

Apologies if these have been mentioned already and I am simply blind, but those large curved pieces on the floor next to the rear wheels are new right?

They are the new brake ducts, they are on the car since launch.