Ferrari Chassis Technical Director Enrico Cardile has said that pictures of the Red Bull RB19’s floor from qualifying in Monaco show its rivals “do a lot of things differently”.
The ground effect aero regulations introduced in Formula 1 at the start of 2022 put a lot of design focus underneath the car.
Each team’s aero department has since been busy working on crafting the venturi tunnels and shaping the floor of their designs to generate as much downforce as possible.
Red Bull has so far extracted the most performance during F1’s latest cycle of regulations, winning all but one grand prix in 2023 en route to a championship double.
But an incident for Sergio Perez in qualifying at Monaco afforded the chasing pack a glimpse at the all-important floor of the RB19 as the Mexican’s car was extracted via crane.
“It’s part of our job to analyse the cars of our competitors, so it’s one more photo in our database,” Cardile told Auto Motor und Sport of the Monaco images.
“Even though our cars are different, it was interesting to analyse Red Bull’s floor because they do a lot of things differently from the competition.
“But to benefit from a photo, you have to look at it with the right glasses.
“You have to detach yourself from your own car and see the big picture.
“A one-to-one copy has never worked, and certainly not with these cars, where millimetres can make a big difference.
“But you can try to understand what they are trying to achieve with these shapes and draw inspiration from them.”
Ferrari was the only team other than Red Bull to win a grand prix in 2023, courtesy of Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore.
Such is Red Bull’s current dominance, the majority of the grid has sought to redefine its design concept to match the front runners.
Ferrari deployed an alternative concept to Red Bull with positive results at the start of 2022, emerging as an early title contender before slipping out of contention as the season wore on.
The Italian team had hoped for more from 2023 with an evolution of last year’s machine, but instead slipped further away from the current F1 pacesetters.
This has prompted Ferrari to develop “a brand new car” for 2024 and Cardille believes that Red Bull shows it’s possible to develop a high-performing all-rounder within the current set of regulations.
“Red Bull is the best example of the fact that there is an all-rounder,” he added.
“You just have to work hard and have the right goals.”
