TECH DEBRIEF: Ferrari's rear suspension performed as the team has expected
Ferrari introduced a heavily-revised rear suspension at last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix which delivered what the team had expected based on the simulations. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.
Ferrari endured an up-and-down weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. While Charles Leclerc delivered an absolutely faultless performance all weekend long, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled to put together his laps in both the sprint and standard qualifying session.
The Monegasque started from P3 on the grid, and managed to maintain this spot in the tricky, damp conditions, fending of the attacks of Max Verstappen whose Red Bull was arguably more competitive in the early stages of the 44-lap race.
Leclerc then pitted at the right time, and never lost his concentration, keeping Verstappen at bay despite enormous pressure from the reigning champion.
His team-mate Hamilton started from P18 following a tough qualifying session on Saturday. The Briton was excellent in the damp conditions, picking off five drivers in the opening stages of the race.
The seven-time world champion pitted at absolutely perfect time, gaining a lot thanks to his early stop. He then went on to close in on Alex Albon, but with his aerodynamic configuration he was unable to make any further progress.
Following months-long development work, Ferrari brought a heavily-revised rear suspension to last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. The team had been slightly unsure ahead of the Spa weekend when to introduce the upgrade, but it felt that the revised element could give an instant lift in performance which is crucial given the tight nature of the field this season.
The Maranello-based outfit tested the upgrade during a filming day at Mugello, with both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc having completed a handful of laps around the Italian's team own track.
The reprofiled rear suspension are aimed at reducing the car’s sensitivity to ride-height changes, and it is designed to keep the car within its optimal operating window.
"This revision of the rear suspension geometry triggered a re-optimisation of wishbone fairings as well as lower and upper winglet cascades, with the aim to maximize aerodynamic efficiency," Ferrari noted.
In addition, Ferrari has a circuit-specific rear wing at this race, having trimmed the rear wing flap element.
"Given the aerodynamic efficiency requirements of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, a lower downforce modulation will be made available, reducing the chord of the rear wing flap element."
While the team noted that it may take several race weekends to fully optimize the new geometry, Leclerc said that the upgrade delivered what the Scuderia had expected from it.
"Our upgrades brought what we expected and we need to keep learning how to maximise their potential. We will keep pushing and I hope we can put some more pressure on our competitors soon," Leclerc concluded.
