Ferrari targeting Red Bull strength with newly-launched SF-24

Putting the new SF-24 on the track, Enrico Cardile revealed Ferrari have designed a completely new rear wing for 2024 in a bid to catch up on Red Bull’s DRS gains.

Last season Red Bull’s DRS was one of the hot topics in the early part of the season as the team stormed from one race win to another.

Although Red Bull didn’t have to do a lot of overtaking on the track, when they did, rivals noted the “insane” gains when the RB19’s DRS flaps were open.

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Said to be achieved by the ratio of drag that the RB19 balanced between the rear wing and beam wing, aided by the car’s stable rear, the Red Bull DRS was reportedly worth between two-tenths or three-tenths of a second.

It’s no wonder that Cardile and his team have focused on improving that with this year’s Ferrari SF-24.

“Yes, it is,” he said at the launch when asked if that was part of the team’s focus. “I mean, a part of the development of this car has been also to revamp completely the rear wing.

“The car has been already presented with a new mid-downforce rear wing and we are revamping accordingly all the range pretty much we have. So we focus our attention also on the rear wings.

“We took definitely our own direction. We did during last year a big job to understand what driveability meant in terms of shaping the aero map, so the direction is our own.

“I’m not able to say where Red Bull in terms of target setting went, or is going in the future. Once they find the target we obviously scan several options and we find, on the current one, that is the best way to achieve our own targets.”

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Working towards improving the car’s downforce while reducing underfloor sensitivity, the rear wing of the SF-24 that was unveiled on Tuesday includes a small forward upper element and an aggressive lower element while the area where the rear flap joins the endplates has been reprofiled.

“The only thing I can say is that the car we’ve done already has progressed and evolved compared to the one presented,” Cardile added.

“Then we will decide when it will be better to bring the first updates on track. The first step is to see where we are compared to our competitors.”

As for the suspension, Ferrari have stuck with the pullrod system for the front of the car and the pushrod for the rear.

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