Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T

[mcalex]

Of course not, @anjšpricpumpa said that McLaren will overtake Ferrari couple of races ago.
We can see that clearly now... Alonso in on pole

[stefan_]

[Hail22]

Singapore GP - FP3 / Qualifying

[jagunx51]

wot dhe vaak ...??! =D>

[Jolle]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CPQHhG0UEAAiVK4.jpg:large

wot dhe vaak ...??! =D>

Could thuis be onze of the big gains we see from Ferrari this weekend? A simple but effective way to seal the sides turning the whole backend of the car more and more into a big diffuser?

[Pierce89]

Forza Ferrari

[bhall II]

Could thuis be onze of the big gains we see from Ferrari this weekend? A simple but effective way to seal the sides turning the whole backend of the car more and more into a big diffuser?

Underbody flow tends to stagnate in that area, which raises local pressure and also creates a bottleneck that raises pressure upstream. The net effect is less downforce and higher drag.

Those slots should improve underbody efficiency by energizing the stagnant flow. (Or so goes my logic.)



Note: I don't know that Ferrari's form this weekend was necessarily the result of any big gains as much as it was just being at a circuit with characteristics that really suit the car. In contrast to previous years, this car seems to do very well through low- and medium-speed corners that demand excellent traction. As such, I suspect we'll probably see its performance come back down to Earth at Suzuka.

[f1316]

Note: I don't know that Ferrari's form this weekend was necessarily the result of any big gains as much as it was just being at a circuit with characteristics that really suit the car. In contrast to previous years, this car seems to do very well through low- and medium-speed corners that demand excellent traction. As such, I suspect we'll probably see its performance come back down to Earth at Suzuka.

I agree with this...but I still don't quite understand how it happened.

By which I mean that earlier in the season the opposite seemed to be true. After Ferrari introduced the big Barcelona package, the immediate reaction was that the car was good in high speed corners but really struggled for traction in low speed corners .

This seemed about right to me for three reasons i. It's been a Ferrari characteristic for a while now (I'd say since the 150 italia) ii. In Barcelona Ferrari only lost a tenth through first two sectors but then a further half second in the slower sector three iii. The team said just that in the aftermath of Barcelona - I.e they had a problem with traction.

So what's changed to completely reverse the characteristics of the car? My perception is that things like suspension changes etc. may have fixed what was a one-off traction problem in Spain with the new package but that the issue in longer corners is not so much a Ferrari weakness but a post Canada Mercedes pu strength in terms of electrical deployment on circuits where the lap was long + had a lot of on throttle.

However, did the Ferrari monza pu upgrade help in that department? It's untested but I suspect Suzuka will not be a spa repeat for that reason (albeit I don't expect Mercedes troubles to last).

[pciarro]

However, did the Ferrari monza pu upgrade help in that department? It's untested but I suspect Suzuka will not be a spa repeat for that reason (albeit I don't expect Mercedes troubles to last).

Well, I think it all depends on the reason behind the debacle of Mercedes. We don't know if they are facing new problems with the tyres, with the new engine or just the a specific track.

[elFranZ]

In my opinion, what we all saw in Singapore was more than just track related.
Beware: this is a very rude reconstuction, maybe totally wrong, and I'll be very happy if someone can furtherly expand the matter.
Starting in Singapore, Pirelli's advices on tyres pressures and angles have become mandatory. That is the only variable from the previous races. The higher pressures allowed by the new rule translate into a smaller contact area between the tyre and the tarmac, which is a very elaborate way to say: less grip.
So the car became suddenly more confortable with the new specs. That happened also on the RB11, which is generally recognised as a good chassis.
Of course track layout played a major role in the total account of pure lap times (23 turns, 5kms, about 2 min/lap), but I suspect there's much more. No way in two weeks to get about two seconds on the dominant car, so something happened on tyres for me.

[henra]

Underbody flow tends to stagnate in that area, which raises local pressure and also creates a bottleneck that raises pressure upstream. The net effect is less downforce and higher drag.

Those slots should improve underbody efficiency by energizing the stagnant flow. (Or so goes my logic.)

I'm not quite sure how you would energize stagnant flow below the floor by squeezing even more air into that area in front of the tyre? Probably you're right and that is surely what they want to achieve, I just struggle to grasp how it should work.

[6 of 12]

In my opinion, what we all saw in Singapore was more than just track related.
Beware: this is a very rude reconstuction, maybe totally wrong, and I'll be very happy if someone can furtherly expand the matter.
Starting in Singapore, Pirelli's advices on tyres pressures and angles have become mandatory. That is the only variable from the previous races. The higher pressures allowed by the new rule translate into a smaller contact area between the tyre and the tarmac, which is a very elaborate way to say: less grip.
So the car became suddenly more confortable with the new specs. That happened also on the RB11, which is generally recognised as a good chassis.
Of course track layout played a major role in the total account of pure lap times (23 turns, 5kms, about 2 min/lap), but I suspect there's much more. No way in two weeks to get about two seconds on the dominant car, so something happened on tyres for me.

I understand two things:

1) We're about to go off topic big time and
2) The way I heard people talk about tyre pressures (and by people I mainly mean Niki Lauda (Merc), who is working for German broadcaster RTL as a co-host and Toto Wolff (Also Merc, so there goes the credibility of my sources...)), I don't think the Pirelli advice is mandatory now, but even if it were, tyre pressures were only upped for the high-speed circuit of monza after Vettel and Rosberg's tyre failures in Belgium. The adviced tyre pressure is now back down to pre-vettel's-outburst races. So, assuming it were now mandatory to follow Pirellis advice, that would mean that Merc had not followed that advice before at all, not even by a long shot.

Then again, all Merc staff have told the media they couldn't make the tyres work and they didn't know why.


I do not understand what I saw last weekend but I also do not see how a track layout can cost Merc 2secs. The Red Bulls clearly performed so well because engine power was not kernel in Singapore and apparently their chassis is quite okay, so they'll be off the pace again for the rest of the year (maybe not in Russia, that layout is similar to SIngapore in my head).

Which leaves us at The SF15-T (or FIST, as I read it to myself when nobody's listening ). The car performes well on the straight now as we've seen in monza, and Ferrari can make it behave in faster corners (like in Spain). So all in all, Japan is going to be a one-two

[bhall II]

I'm not quite sure how you would energize stagnant flow below the floor by squeezing even more air into that area in front of the tyre? Probably you're right and that is surely what they want to achieve, I just struggle to grasp how it should work.

It's just my best guess, and I could be wrong. A look at flow velocity might make it easier to see...



I suspect the idea is to manage the flow's pathlines to minimize the bottleneck.

I agree with this...but I still don't quite understand how it happened.

I wonder if a rush to evaluate the effectiveness of the Barcelona update package led to setup compromises during the race. A stiffened suspension is better for aero, but it's not so good for low-speed traction, and, as you said, the car consistently lost 0.5s in S3, a sector that demands good traction.

[f1316]

I agree with this...but I still don't quite understand how it happened.

I wonder if a rush to evaluate the effectiveness of the Barcelona update package led to setup compromises during the race. A stiffened suspension is better for aero, but it's not so good for low-speed traction, and, as you said, the car consistently lost 0.5s in S3, a sector that demands good traction.

Yes, indeed, and given the size of the package you could see that they were struggling to understand how best to use it (hence Kimi running the old one).

But are we therefore saying that this 'correction' then damaged their high speed corner performance? Probably Ferrari's worst races of the year were silverstone and spa and this after what appeared to be good aero performance in Spain.

As I say, I suspect it's Mercedes gain in terms of pu performance after Canada which changed the picture in terms of *relative* performance. Once they, and their customers, could use qualifying modes throughout the race, Ferrari had to trim more wing to keep up top speed (I recall Arrivabene saying something like "we were slow in the corners and on the straights" in silverstone, indicating that they were left trying to strike a balance).

My hope is that the monza pu upgrade will mean less compromise hence better aero performance.

Edit: just realised I wrote about the 'size of the package'

[MadMatt]

Stagnation in front of the rear wheel over the floor is used to create the same effect as a front splitter, so it isn't bad in itself. What might cause issue is if there is no way this air can then escape which can cause blockage of airflow around the coke bottle.