Having already shown a good rate of development during the early stages of the season, Ferrari’s lower drag aero package brought to Montreal has a number of small detailed changes that aim to improve the car’s overall aerodynamic efficiency going forward, as well as optimising the car for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The bulk of the update, and the most visual change, was the spoon-shaped rear-wing, a profile used by Mercedes during the first few races (and one that the Silver Arrows returned to for Canada, too).
This profile utilises a lower angle of attack at the wing tips, which cuts drag in two ways: there is less blockage to the oncoming flow and the pressure gradient between the upper and lower surfaces of the wing is smaller, so the tip vortex is reduced in strength.
However the wing overall – when considering the endplates, the accompanying winglets below and the way the wing is mounted – differs significantly from the Scuderia’s title rival.
For starters, Ferrari have opted to mount the wing to the rear crash structure using two pylons (highlighted in yellow). More significantly, though, the team have moved away from the swan-neck layout used on the previous wing, which was believed to allow the wing to bend backwards under extreme loads experienced at over 190 mph to increase straight line speed.
Instead the pylons connect directly beneath the main plane, with one of the two monkey seat winglets bolted to them.
Ferrari have also aligned themselves with the rest of the field by adopting open-ended louvres (circled). These louvres are a common sight and have been around in F1 for many years, designed to bleed air between the two sides of the endplate and control the wing tip vortex.
Last year Toro Rosso revealed the open-ended design and this has since been copied by most teams.
A revised DRS actuator housing design completes the new wing assembly.
Having debuted a double T-wing in Monaco, the single element wing used for the majority of the season so far returned in Montreal.
As for the rest of the car, a fourth scalloped slot was added to the floor in front of the rear tyre to further control the lateral flow that ‘squirts’ from the rotating mass to the diffuser, and detail adjustments to the bodywork were made around the SF70H’s complex sidepods to provide the rear aero components with cleaner flow.
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