A little difficult to see and obviously very early, but the car looks a lot less bouncy than last year, seems like it could take hitting a bump without the car proposing or bouncing as much as last year.
Anyway, while Ferrari is catching up with a car they should have had last year, seems RB are moving the goalposts again with their new RB20. So while Cardile is happy massaging the old designs that “they’re comfortable with” the team to beat keeps pushing the envelope on aero and other innovation.
On another note. I think Carlos is a stand up guy. Everything he's said in the last week or so has been solid. I still think Ferrari may have chosen poorly.
I hope his career will bounce back after his forced exit from Ferrari at the end of this year. Let's see what he can deliver at Ferrari during his last year.
I will always be a Ferrari guy, but I will also stand for Carlos. Hes solid. I was hoping for a different outcome. I'm sure he would always go his own way, but just not like this.
Vasseur: Call to Sainz with Hamilton news was one of the “most difficult” Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur says that telling Carlos Sainz that he will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025 was one of his “most difficult” phone calls. Vasseur expects that despite his obvious disappointment in losing his seat, Sainz will remain fully dedicated to the Ferrari cause this year, insisting that the team will continue to support him. “As you can imagine it was not the easiest call of my life, one of the most difficult, with the one with Toto!,” said Vasseur when asked about giving Sainz the bad news. “But I'm fully convinced that he a very professional driver, that he understands that it's a long season in front of us, that it's a huge opportunity. “And I think it's also a dream to be in this situation, to have the team behind him. We had a long discussion, so as you can imagine I will be fully supportive of Carlos. He is fully committed, and we know that we have to do the job together. Together we are professionals." Expanding on the Spaniard’s commitment he said: “I'm fully convinced that Carlos will be fully dedicated and fully committed to the season until the last lap and the last corner of the season, and equally I'm sure that all the team will be fully motivated and fully behind Carlos, who did a great job for us so far. “Now it's important for us again to be focused on 2024. We have a good opportunity, we work so hard on the project that I don't want to have any kind of distraction.”
Leclerc: Initial feeling of Ferrari SF-24 "healthier" compared to 2023 F1 car Charles Leclerc reckons Ferrari's 2024 Formula 1 car "feels healthier" compared to last year's machinery in his initial impressions of shaking down the SF-24. AUTHORJake Boxall-Legge CO-AUTHORJonathan Noble UPDATEDFEB 14, 2024, 3:30 AM Image Unavailable, Please Login Following Ferrari's Tuesday launch, the Monegasque joined team-mate Carlos Sainz in giving the new car its first laps around Ferrari's Fiorano test track, albeit only for a handful of laps. Charles Leclerc explained at the launch that his work on the simulator with the new car suggested that the team had made a "significant step forward", but it was too early to say if the real car correlated perfectly with that assessment. In comparing his feelings of the car to last year's SF-23 during its shakedown, the five-time grand prix winner revealed that the SF-24 felt more easy to drive around Ferrari's private circuit. PLUS: Can Ferrari's all-new chariot challenge for 2024's F1 honours? He warned however that this did not necessarily reflect the overall performance, stating that he had only done "three laps with cameras stuck all around the car and not really pushing to the limit". "I remember that after the first lap last year, or if it wasn't the first lap, it was the first three, four laps, I wasn't really happy with the behaviour of the car," Leclerc explained. "The car was very, very difficult to drive. This year, the car feels healthier and in a better place.
Of course, the floor is very important. But the suspension allows for control of the floor height. The anti dive and anti-squat + geometry is what Newey focused on for the RB18. Ferrari and Merc seemed obsessed with slamming the car down as low as possible. This creates more downforce, but also causes it to be very peaky. Before the 2022 cars were launched quiet reports came out that Newey was focusing on suspension only, not really any of the rest of the car (of course he has final say, but that's beside the point). For Ferrari to seemingly write suspension off and still focus on getting the most performance of the floor worries me. It seems to me they're just out there chasing peak downforce. Great for a single lap, not so much for a full race.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ferrari-rejected-red-bull-style-f1-suspension-switch-for-own-innovation/10575518/ Ferrari rejected Red Bull-style F1 suspension switch for own “innovation” Ferrari did evaluate a switch to Red Bull-style push-rod rear suspension for its new SF-24 Formula 1 car, but rejected it in favour of its own “innovation”. AUTHORJonathan Noble PUBLISHEDFEB 14, 2024, 12:45 PM Image Unavailable, Please Login As part of a push by Red Bull’s rivals to close in on the world champion squad, a deep analysis has gone into the factors that helped make last year's RB20 so strong. One area of interest has been its suspension layout, with its pull-rod front and push-rod rear suspension being viewed as key elements in delivering both good ride and improved aerodynamic performance. The pull-rod front helps clear up airflow around the front tyre, while a push-rod rear offers opportunities in narrowing the gearbox and altering the floor shape to open up downforce-producing performance at the rear. Mercedes joined the trend of switching to a push-rod rear for its new W15, but Ferrari has notably stuck to the pull-rod layout that it has used since the start of the new ground effect era. The Maranello team’s technical director Enrico Cardile has explained that its choice is not due to it blindly ignoring what others have done though, because it did investigate the pros and cons of the push-rod layout at the rear. Image Unavailable, Please Login ferrari-sf-24 Asked about the decision-making process to stick with the pull-rod, Cardile said: “We tested for a couple of years a push-rod suspension. “In reality, our rear suspension is a bit different in terms of top and lower wishbone distribution compared to a Red Bull one, to mention one team. “We recorded good aero results moving towards this direction and when moving from pull-rod to push-rod, we didn't measure a big advantage to justify some compromise in terms of weight or compliance. “So from there, we evolved our suspension, keeping the same layout.” Ferrari’s stance on the benefits of its pull-rod design is further enhanced by the fact that it believes its rear suspension for the 2024 car is quite innovative in its design. As part of an effort to produce a shorter gearbox (the chassis is understood to be 5cm longer while the car’s overall length is the same), it has had to cleverly reorientate its suspension configuration. As the above details in the main image show, the pull-rod element has been moved quite a bit further forward than last year in what is likely to be an attempt to improve compliance and increase anti-squat. Its angle makes it much more closely aligned with the front leg of the lower wishbone, and set back from the front arm of the upper wishbone. Speaking about the work that has gone on with the suspension, Cardile said: “The main differences compared to last year's car are on the rear, where the inboard suspension is differently located inside the gearbox. “It is also a different concept which, for us at least, has been an innovation because it's a different way to manage the inboard suspension compared to what we did in the past.” Cardile also emphasised that the team was committed to its suspension layout for the year and was not considering any other option.
Agree that RB are doing a good job of chassis control but not necessarily because of anti-dive at the front. Firstly, the front suspension is typically run very stiff and there’s little travel anyway. Also, the now common use of “anti-dive” is a misnomer for inclined upper and lower wishbones, as RB have done since ‘22 and now copied by all, and done mostly to use the wishbone arms to create a down-wash of air leading to the underfloor. True anti-dive geometry results in a high “Instant Center” when viewed from the side and the RB (and others) because of the lower wishbone also being inclined has a quite low IC. This probably because with high anti-dive effect a suspension is less compliant over bumps as well as reducing feel: Image Unavailable, Please Login Note that you can achieve much higher anti-dive effect by keeping the upper wishbone pivot horizontal and angling up at the rear the lower wishbone. As for anti-squat or anti-lift at the back, this may be more of an actual thing to control the rear, but again the wishbones here are arranged to give some up-wash ahead of the beam wing. BTW, good article talking about Ferrari’s choice of pull-rod at the rear with mention of how this might be affording them more compliance: EDIT: Article posted above ^^ That’s something I noticed with Merc and AM rear rear suspension: pushrods are nearly horizontal so any small vertical movement of the rear wheel results in little spring/damper movement which is not good for controlling the wheel. This can be compensated with a rocker, but the precision is lost:
He is looking to continue his career, so his public persona is very important to manage. Would be a fool to appear bitter in public.
Superb is a stretch. He is very capable and deserving of his seat, which is more than you can say for a lot of the drivers…
Is it just me or does the red/yellow remind anyone of McDonalds? It's been bothering me since the 499p As long as it wins I really don't care but for some reason whenever I see rad and yellow used together I see McDonalds.
I believe Newey said it was important to get the suspension to work in conjunction with the floor. It seems his team figured out how to develop enormous downforce from the floor and developed a suspension to maximize those advantages. Especially over a wider working range. Without an aero efficient car, it doesn't matter how perfected the suspension is, it will never be a challenger. I tend to believe the aero still is king in F1, but it certainly doesn't mean the suspension isn't important. I think Ferrari did make changes to the mounting points of their wishbones to better their anti drive and anti squat.
Yes. I see that as as well. Last years car looked better. I think the red wheels are overkill, adds to the Mcdonalds effect. I would have no complaints if the wheels were black.
