2024-05-09 14:25:41
Ferrari is testing today and tomorrow at Fiorano, but it is not just any test. Today the Scuderia tests the new prototype fender developed by the FIA that aims to reduce wheel spray. While tomorrow they will carry out a ‘Filming day’ in which they will premiere the SF-24 updates that they will introduce in Imola.
The large amount of spray raised by current Formula 1 cars is a problem since it greatly reduces visibility and makes it difficult to compete when there is a lot of water on the track. To try to solve this problem, the FIA is working on the development of fenders that reduce the amount of spray generated by the tires and allow competition in extreme rain conditions.
Ferrari has been the team chosen to carry out the test with this prototype and Fiorano the chosen circuit. Arthur Leclerc has driven the F1-75, the Scuderia’s 2022 season car, while Oliver Bearman has done the same with the SF-24.
The first photos of the test did not take long to arrive – published by the Italian media Formu1a.uno – and in them you can see a radical change from what we are used to seeing. The fenders cover the wheels almost entirely with small openings in the front.
But this is not the only solution that has been tested, the Ferrari has also been seen running with fenders with larger openings on the side.
It should be noted that this It is not the first time that the FIA puts a new fender on the track with the aim of reducing spray. Last year, Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri carried out a test at the Silverstone circuit of a first prototype developed by Mercedes that did not have the expected result.
“What was done at Silverstone, with the help of Mercedes, who created the parts, and McLaren, who raced with a car to test in spray, was perhaps an overly optimistic experiment. The fenders covered very little of the wheel. I was too skeptical and I imagined that we would not see very important results,” explained Nikolas Tombazis, FIA single-seater director.
Now, the version that has been tested in Fiorano is a clear evolution, but, for the moment, caution reigns in this regard. “After starting this project towards the end of last year, and having done quite a few CFD simulations, we understood pretty early on that it wasn’t as simple as just putting something on top and hitting the track. We didn’t want to lose too much performance in the cars and mess up too much. aerodynamics, although some of it is inevitable,” Tombazis commented.
“With the current load, these big fenders, or whatever you want to call them, if you have full coverage, they would take a pretty big dynamic load. And, therefore, its suspension anchors would have to be quite robust so as not to fly away at 300 km / h,” he added in this regard.
The FIA has been working on this project, called WWP, since 2022 –Wet Weather Package–, which focuses on reducing spray. Lack of visibility is the main problem when competing in rain, since Pirelli’s current extreme rain tires are capable of evacuating 85 liters at 300 kilometers/hour. However, the large amount of spray that is generated is the problem and, furthermore, the larger the tire size, the more spray and that is one of the reasons why this problem has increased in recent years.
In addition, Another factor must be taken into account: the diffuser. “We still don’t know what proportion of the spray comes from the wheels and what proportion from the diffuser,” said Tombazis after the first test of the fenders in 2023. So, if the diffuser is the main cause of the current Formula 1 cars generating such a quantity spray, we will have to wait until the regulations change.
Tomorrow the Scuderia will roll again in Fiorano, this time, with a ‘Filming Day’ in which they will take the opportunity to test on the track for the first time the package of improvements that they will debut in the SF-24 next weekend in Imola. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be in charge of filming on Friday.
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