Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz’s new car to stand up to Red Bull

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Ferrari has presented this Tuesday its new weapon for 2024. The SF-24 (Scudería Ferrari and the current year as nomenclature) was expected to be very different from the last two years and has not disappointed. It’s a new car from the nose to the diffuser. and like most on the grid leans towards the Red Bull elements of 2019, how good results they gave him on the track. It will be the last of Carlos Sainz as a Ferrari driver before the arrival of Hamilton and with which he will try to fight for his first F1 World title.

The sides, suspensions and floor are aimed at having greater efficiency when cornering. and go as close as possible to the asphalt, without loss in ground effect, at the same time to care as much as possible tires. That was, on several circuits, Ferrari’s Achilles heel in 2023, such as the unpredictability of the behavior of the rear in the fast and medium zones, something that was partially corrected towards the end of the year with the Japan kit. Now they must continue to insist on this path of improvement, without losing the top speed in the straight line or the slow curve pace, one of the best in 2023.

The first thing that stands out on the new SF-24, it is the nose. The nose was finished in three sections de recent years to follow the line of Red Bull, shorter and squashed, but not as refined as in the case of Aston Martin or Red Bull itself. The tip fits with the second flap of the spoiler, to create more space for the air underneath the car.

Los Sides are clearly inspired by Red Bull and that they are being copied throughout the entire grid. Very tall and stretched in the mouth, with the prominent lower lip acting as a flap and with the mirrors acting as a kind of middle spoiler aboveBesides They leave an impressive gap below and abandon the straight and prominent belly that they had for the lower one in 2022 and 23. Leaving a lot of space between the ground and the sidepods is one of the lines that Newey imposed and that everyone follows.

In the three-quarter view from the rear you can see the new pontoons, the abrupt narrowing in the middle of the road towards the diffuser, the new upper cooling area and the channel above the ground, which gains a lot of excavation compared to the previous single-seater.

The S canal is maintained

Both in In the overhead shot, as in the previous one, you can see the small air outlet next to the cockpit, it is the so-called ‘S duct’ which has an intake in the lower part of the nose and makes the way for exit just above the side pontoons. It was said last year that it serves to smooth out possible turbulence in that area and that it provides aerodynamic load points to the car. It is an original idea from Ferrari, with that layout and it seems to be efficient because it is maintained despite the general redesign.

The rear socket offers the view of the new rear suspensions, one of the key points for Ferrari this year. The area of ​​​​the engine cover and the end of the sidepods still maintains an original look from previous Ferraris. Here you see the exit of the S conduit, next to the lower anchorage of the halo, clearly.

In general, it is a new car, but maintaining some of the characteristics of recent years, a very robust car in its elements, far from the minimalism of other equipment. The carbon fiber has much greater surface area on the sides and in the drop of the sidepods than in Aston or the new Visa Cash (former AlphaTauri). In that area, together with the diffuser, they maintain their own concept, which has not worked so well in 2023. The Bahrain tests (February 21 to 23) have succeeded in Maranello or will they have to suffer like in 2023.