Ferrari has revealed that the front wing it has brought to this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix is catered towards widening its 2024 Formula 1 car’s operating window.
The Italian marque has overcome the development misstep it made at the Spanish Grand Prix which amplified the high-speed bouncing which derailed its title charge.
Ferrari introduced an updated floor to the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month which helped it to a win via Charles Leclerc, who took pole position and second in Baku.
But although implementing new components to a street venue is uncommon, Ferrari has accelerated a revised front-wing design prior to the upcoming autumn break.
The Maranello-based squad’s alteration to that area comes since the FIA ruled all front wings adhere to the regulations amid suspicions regarding McLaren‘s iteration.
“Singapore is not the obvious circuit where you would bring an aero upgrade,” Ferrari Senior Performance Engineer Jock Clear told media including Motorsport Week.
“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.
“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].
“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.
“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.”
Ferrari strength on street circuits revealed
Ferrari has been on pole on the past three visits to Singapore and it hit the ground running as Leclerc was inside the top two places in the opening two practice hours.
Clear believes that Ferrari’s SF-24 challenger being more benign than its capricious predecessor has inspired the drivers to push the limits more around street circuits.
“I think it’s probably [a] testament to what I spoke about a year ago, which is not only focussing on delivering overall load, but making it drivable,” the Briton assessed.
“Closing the balance window, and giving a predictable car, which is what we didn’t have probably, certainly 16 months ago, we didn’t have.
“And I think the fact that the walls are very close, and our guys are prepared to take it to the limit.
“I don’t think our car has hugely more potential than anybody else’s car around Azerbaijan.
“I think that it has a lot of inherent stability, and it gives the drivers confidence, and they’re willing to take it to the limit.
“I think you see that with Charles in Azerbaijan, you see that with Carlos [Sainz], most of the street circuits, Carlos is very strong here [having won in 2023].
“And I think we’ll see both of them strong here, because they’re willing to maybe take a little bit more risk.
“But it’s the car that gives them the confidence to do that, and that’s something we identified, certainly a year and a half ago, that we need to make this car more benign.”
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