The secrets of the Ferrari F1 update revealed by Vettel’s crash

On a weekend that Ferrari rolled out some minor updates that it hopes will help get more power out of its car in the future, some of the finer aspects of its SF1000 were spotted after Sebastian Vettel crashed in qualifying.

After the front wing was ripped from his car, it offered viewers the opportunity to stop aspects of the complex nose and cloak area that were not so obvious before.

It had been clear to Ferrari before the weekend that the changes to the SF1000 during the Grand Prix weekend in Russia would be minor and not fully address some of the more fundamental shortcomings of this year’s challenger.

While the changes in Sochi may be more about understanding which direction the team needs to go, the package of parts installed was very different.

At the front of the car, Ferrari continues to use the wider nose design it has been wearing since 2016. With the introduction of the thumb-style tip of the nose, which is used to comply with legal requirements.

This is in contrast to what Mercedes did, which uses a more bulbous top and very narrow pillars that blend into a slimmer body and more space for the “cape” solution mounted on the bottom.

In an attempt to use the car’s midsection in a similar way, Ferrari added a plow to its nasal solution at the Singapore Grand Prix last season. This encouraged a different flow structure underneath to change the behavior of the car and possibly at the same time put a little more load on the front axle.

Ferrari SF1000 nose inlet detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

For Russia, the nose and plow were slightly modified to improve flow through the inlets next to the tip of the thumb.

The leading edge of the plow is now a little deeper to encourage flow through the inlets (left) while also changing how the airflow and associated pressures build up beneath the surface as well.

Ferrari’s continued use of this bow and plow combination means the team is still using a complex rotating vane structure attached to both the rear end of the nose and the underside of the chassis.

In comparison, the solution used by Mercedes has its cape start further back and as such falls into the section that is occupied by the rotating wings of the SF1000.

Had it not been for Vettel’s accident during qualifying, some changes in this region might have gone unnoticed as the accident damage made it much easier to see that part of the car on the recovery truck.

The base plate of the chassis section of the rotary wing includes three rows of “curved finger wings”, each of which forms an L-shaped surface at the top (inset, red arrow).

It’s a feature that shares some similarities with partner team Haas, which introduced a similar rule at the 2019 Spanish GP, while Red Bull added a single shovel over its cape in that region as well.

Ferrari SF1000 rear wing endplate comparison

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A new rear wing design was also installed on the Ferrari last weekend, which contains some parts of the Mercedes design DNA.

The top rear cutout of the endplate now has jagged edges while the thickness of the underlying endplate has been reduced to allow the upward movements to play a more dominant role.

In the meantime, the stretched section that extends beyond the limit of the regulatory bounding box has only two completely closed holes instead of the six slits that perforated that section before.

Ferrari appears to have identified some of the problematic areas of the SF1000 design and made some changes to help in the short term until more robust upgrades can arrive.

We should start seeing the green shoots of progress in the second half of this season. But the real work will likely be to improve the odds for 2021 when it kicks in its development tokens and has a new power unit, fuel, and lubricant to help recreate some of the performance its current package lacks.