Ferrari are set to bring just a revised floor upgrade for the car in the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend
Ferrari’s first extensive upgrade package for the F1-75 was earlier planned for the Spanish Grand Prix but there have been some late alterations to the plan. The F1 team are set to defer the new sidepods upgrade to the British GP and a revised floor will be the only upgrade for them in Spain.
Carlos Sainz briefly drove with the new floor during the Imola GP weekend. This floor was seemingly first trialled by Charles Leclerc in Australia and after enough tests, is now set to be a permanent upgrade in the car this season.
Besides the revised floor, Ferrari aims to extract everything from the F1-75 by reducing proposing and increasing aero efficiency as a part of its whole upgrading process for the Spanish GP.
The benefits of reducing these porpoising effects are clearly not limited to what the drivers feel behind the wheel, though, as there would be an undeniable impact on the car’s performance – in terms of stability and aerodynamic efficiency.
Porpoising is inevitable, connected to the increase in speed and load generated by the floor, which causes the diffuser to stall. By controlling the stall, thanks to the adoption of the new floor, the jolts should be minimised and the drivers look set to enjoy a smoother ride.
Mercedes have gone in the opposite direction and are set to using a ‘no sidepod’ design
The sidepods in an F1 car are used to accelerate the air as much as you can around the area on top of the diffuser, in order to make the ground effect absolutely as powerful as possible to push the car to the ground.
A newly modified Mercedes W-13 has been on display on this season. The car has minimalist side pods, so tiny that they are barely visible to the human eye. Sidepods are used in F1 to guide air inside cars to provide cooling for the engine but Mercedes’ bold decision to go with minimal sidepods is possibly to maximise the effect while it will also help aerodynamics.
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