Title: Improving High-Speed Rear Stability: Ferrari’s Barcelona and Spielberg Updates
Introduction:
Ferrari has been working diligently to address the key weakness of their car – consistent downforce at high speeds. After the Spanish Grand Prix, the team introduced new sidepods in their Barcelona update, followed by a new front wing and floor in the Spielberg update. Both updates were designed to improve high-speed rear stability, aiming to overcome a deficit rather than simply adding downforce or reducing drag. Let’s delve into the details of these updates and the impact they have had on the Ferrari car.
I. Ferrari’s Barcelona Update: Consistency in High-Speed Performance
A. Sidepod Reshaping: Reducing Airflow Separation
1. Addressing the deficit in high-speed rear stability
2. Impact on the consistency of car performance
B. Incremental Step: Designing for Predictability
1. Jock Clear’s perspective on the update
2. Trusting the numbers from wind tunnel testing
3. Performance implications based on Charles Leclerc’s qualifying performance
II. Spielberg Update: Enhancing Benign Behavior
A. Front Wing Redesign: Smoother Profile and Flow Conditioning
1. Performance-driven changes in mainplane, flap, and endplate
2. Reducing aerodynamic losses and downstream impact
3. Flexibility in aerodynamic balance tuning
B. Floor Changes: Focus on Stall Management and Load Distribution
1. Revision of front floor fences and edge, middle floor, and diffuser side wall
2. Impact on car efficiency and consistency
3. Utilizing air pressure differentials for desired flow through tunnels
III. Pursuit of High-Speed Consistency: Ferrari’s Methodology
A. Striking the Balance between Wind Tunnel Numbers and Real-World Characteristics
1. Challenges of compromising for stability across different conditions
2. Load distribution as a means to achieve greater consistency
B. Profile Changes and Airflow Optimization
1. Redesigning entrance fences for optimum volume, speed, and consistency
2. Enhancing the ground-induced vortex for improved aerodynamic performance
IV. Expansion Piece: The Role of Constant Improvement in Formula 1
A. Continuous Innovation and the Quest for Perfection
1. Ferrari’s determination to overcome weaknesses in their car
2. Importance of consistent updates to bridge performance gaps
B. Balancing Trade-Offs in Aerodynamics
1. Finding stability amidst the complexity of aerodynamic design
2. Case studies of other teams’ approaches towards high-speed rear stability
C. The Human Factor in Performance Engineering
1. Jock Clear’s insights on the design process and driver feedback
2. Collaborative efforts between engineers and drivers for optimal performance
Conclusion:
Ferrari’s Barcelona and Spielberg updates have been instrumental in addressing the key weakness of high-speed rear stability in their car. By reshaping the sidepods, redesigning the front wing, and optimizing the floor, Ferrari has aimed to provide greater consistency and predictability in their car’s performance. These incremental steps demonstrate the team’s commitment to constant improvement and overcoming deficits rather than merely adding downforce or reducing drag. As Formula 1 continues to push the boundaries of performance, Ferrari’s methodology serves as a testament to the quest for perfection in the sport.
Summary:
Ferrari’s Barcelona and Spielberg updates were aimed at improving the high-speed rear stability of their car, a key weakness identified during the season. The Barcelona update focused on reshaping the sidepods to reduce airflow separation, while the Spielberg update included a redesigned front wing and floor to enhance benign behavior. The changes were designed to address a deficit and improve consistency, rather than simply adding downforce or reducing drag. These updates have showcased Ferrari’s commitment to constant improvement and their pursuit of perfection in Formula 1. The team’s methodology involves balancing wind tunnel numbers with real-world characteristics, optimizing load distribution, and utilizing air pressure differentials for desired airflow. The additional piece expands on the topic, exploring the role of continuous innovation in Formula 1, the trade-offs in aerodynamic design, and the collaborative efforts between engineers and drivers for optimal performance.
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After the Spanish Grand Prix, we looked at how the new sidepods from Ferrari’s Barcelona update tried to give the car more consistent downforce at high speeds, a key weakness up to that point. Two races later, Ferrari produced a new front wing and floor to further improve that aspect of the car.
Although the Barcelona and Spielberg updates address quite different parts of the car, they are part of the same specific goal of improving high-speed rear stability. They are addressing a deficit rather than simply adding downforce or reducing drag.
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The team’s senior performance engineer, Jock Clear, spoke about the update in Austria, saying: “Based on the numbers, it’s going in the right direction and it’s another incremental step, probably a similar step to the last one, but again it’s been very designed not only in bringing more downforce [and] throw more resistance: the obvious numbers; it’s been designed to make the car a bit more benign and predictable.
“Actually, that’s hard to get from the wind tunnel. We have put it firmly in the belief that the numbers from the tunnel and the performance on Friday can be trusted. [when Charles Leclerc missed out on pole by just 0.04s] it certainly suggests that it brought some performance. We are back in a situation where we are frustrated not to be on pole.”
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The Barcelona update sought to provide that greater consistency through a reshaping of the sidepod to reduce airflow separation. This one pursues the same goal of more benign behavior via a less critical airflow path between the front wing and the floor edges and along the floor. Visually these are very small changes and quite hard to spot, but they include many new parts, and the car has been installed two races ahead of schedule.
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The change in the shapes of the front wing elements is subtle, but Ferrari describes them as follows: “A redesign of all the front wing elements: mainplane, flap and endplate. Reason: performance, flow conditioning. As part of the standard development cycle, the goal of this front wing update is to reduce additional aerodynamic structure losses and their downstream impact, along with greater flexibility in aerodynamic balance tuning.”
We can see in the comparison of Giorgio Piola’s drawing that the change in profile of the lower element in front of the nose is smoother (as the yellow line reference shows, with the old lower arrangement).
Regarding the floor changes, Ferrari describes them as follows: “Revision of the fences of the front floor, the edge of the floor, the middle floor and the side wall of the diffuser. Redesigned sidepod lowering to fit. Along with the front wing update, the floor topology has been revised, with a major focus on stall management and load distribution, which translates into an increase in the car’s efficiency.”
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Airfoils can be overworked, at which point the airflow can stray from its intended path, given sudden decreases in downforce, contributing to inconsistency. Often this occurs when the car pitches, rolls, or dives. Aerodynamicists often have to compromise on optimal wind tunnel numbers in order to provide better real-world characteristics that remain stable across different operating conditions and speed ranges. Changing the load distribution, as Ferrari describes, across different parts of the floor is probably going after this greater consistency.
Ferrari has changed the profile of the fences that form the entrance to the underground tunnels, directing the airflow to achieve the best possible combination of volume, speed and consistency. It involves using air pressure differentials to give the desired flow through the downforce-inducing tunnels. The guiding principle behind these changes will have been Ferrari’s quest for consistency.
Looking at the car in profile (above), you can see that there are subtle changes to the way the front of the outer floor rolls down from behind the front suspension. Previously, there were two steps at the top of the “barge board” panel to induce vortices in the ground. Now there is only one, which can reduce the maximum power of the vortices but could make them less complex.
Although the SF23 has not been the greatest of recent Ferraris, it does have its strengths and there is a very clear methodology apparent in how the team is going to eradicate its weaknesses.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.tech-tuesday-why-ferraris-austria-updates-were-another-important-step-in.4uuCowYvA9Z0WOyzaQQA82.html
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