Ferrari’s Secret Weapon Revealed For Singapore Grand Prix In New Upgrade

Alex Harrington | Sep 20, 2024

Ferrari at Singapore Grand Prix / Ferrari F1 team

Ferrari has unveiled a revised front wing for its SF-24 car at the Singapore Grand Prix,. This development comes hot on the heels of the introduction of a new floor at the Italian Grand Prix, where the Scuderia took its third win of the 2024 season. The innovative front wing is designed to open up the operating window of the car, optimizing its balance over more environments. This will be an essential factor in the winding, high-downforce street circuit of Singapore.

"Singapore is not the obvious circuit where you would bring an aero upgrade," stated Jock Clear to Motorsport.com. Ferrari’s Senior Performance Engineer continued:

“It’s a very draggy, high-downforce circuit, so [the wing] is not specific for this circuit, but basically, it’s just moving the energy a little further inboard."

The subtle changes in the wing’s design are expected to improve the overall downforce of the car.

The revised front wing features numerous technical modifications, including adjustments to the inboard and outboard flap geometry. Perhaps most notably, a redesigned spoon-shaped transition on the mainplane aims to alter the aerodynamic response, creating a more efficient downforce profile. The outboard section of the flaps has been reconfigured to generate an improved outwash effect, significantly impacting the car’s aerodynamic behavior and allowing the side of the floor to be more utilized by clean air.

Moreover, the new flap tips now have rounded curves, which eliminates the previous metal supports. This change allows for enhanced aero elasticity, enabling the flaps to relax under load and thereby increasing downforce without the typical drag.

“If you look at it closely, you’ll see that the inboard is a bit more aggressive and the outboard a bit less aggressive, so we’ve moved that dynamic a little bit. This allows us to crank on a bit more [downforce],” Clear elaborated.

The front wing modifications introduced in Singapore are designed to complement the new floor updates that Ferrari debuted at Monza. The floor changes include reimagined surfaces, reconfigured floor fences, a revised underfloor tunnel expansion, a reprofiled floor edge, and an innovative boat tail section transitioning into the diffuser. These updates work in concert with the front wing to enlarge the SF-24’s operational window, providing a more stable aerodynamic platform.

These upgrades aim to bolster the SF-24’s performance and handling for the remaining races of the season, beginning with the Singapore Grand Prix. This will undoubtedly offer them one of the many building blocks for their 2025 car, as well.

“Here you’re probably going to want to have maximum rear downforce and you’re going to want to get a balance. Balance is everything around here and we’ve been a little bit backed into a corner at some of the high-downforce circuits before, because we’re running out of front power,” Clear said.

“So, it’s just a little more powerful at the top end, slightly more efficient, but it really is that it’s a bit more powerful. That gives us a bit more scope,” Clear concluded.

This newfound flexibility is expected to yield significant gains.