Ferrari secured a solid result in Hungary, following a difficult period after the Monaco GP. The Italian team arrived in Hungary with the first small corrections to the SF-24’s bouncing issue. However, there is still a notable technical gap for Ferrari to bridge.
The SF-24 showed race pace similar to the leaders on the hard compound, but failed to maintain this across a race distance.
At the end of the race, Vassuer confirmed that finishing just outside of the podium was Ferrari’s ceiling:
“I think we had a solid weekend, and in the race, we were in a good fight with Red Bull and Mercedes. Overall, I think we made the most of what we could achieve this weekend with a P4 and a P6”.
IT’S NOT JUST A MATTER OF BOUNCING: EVEN WITHOUT BOUNCING, FERRARI WOULD BE BEHIND MCLAREN
In Maranello, in the week between Silverstone and Budapest, the engineers intervened on the problematic floor introduced in Spain. Ferrari brought a small modification to the Spain-spec floor to the Hungaroring.
The Maranello aerodynamicists applied “corrections” in one of the floor’s most critical areas. The area of focus was the diffuser throat, where Ferrari cross-referenced CFD and track data to make improvements.
Wind tunnel running was not necessary to bring these adjustments.
Ferrari’s hopping problem, however, was not completely eradicated. The main change is that it is triggered less easily:
“We have to find the right compromise between load and bouncing, and this will vary based on the track and the set-up,” commented Vassuer at the end of the Hungarian GP.
“Budapest was not the most severe track for bouncing. But on this front, the situation was positive”.
Bouncing in medium-fast corners costs Ferrari an average of about three-tenths. Drivers feel more comfortable in the car, although there is still work to do. Even without bouncing, Ferrari would have been two-tenths behind McLaren in Hungary.
From this point of view, Budapest is a partial disappointment. Ferrari were hopeful of at least being more competitive than Mercedes. The team’s Achilles heel is still qualifying, where bouncing continues to manifest in the race. At lower speeds, the SF-24 remains driveable and still quite fast.
FERRARI WILL INTRODUCE NEXT ‘REAL’ UPDATE AFTER THE SUMMER: SMALL CORRECTIONS UNTIL THEN
The floor Ferrari brought to Hungary could be considered a “patch” of the floor brought to Spain. The next ‘real’ development package will be introduced after the summer break, currently planned for Singapore – a track where Maranello expects to be competitive.
In Maranello, however, they will try to accelerate the updates to Azerbaijan.
Having said that, this approach might not be viable. It could be more useful for engineers to spread the SF-24’s upgrades across different races and collect more data, starting with the first round after the summer in Zandvoort.
“We don’t have to overturn things, but take small steps,” the Team Principal himself underlined. McLaren and Mercedes have already taken this path after making bigger changes earlier in the year.
At Ferrari, decisions are still being made on the upgrade front. After the latest ‘failed’ updates, the priority is to bring improvement to the SF-24 as soon as they are available.
In Belgium, some corrections are planned on the mechanical front. However, they are not related to the bouncing issue – and these updates are unlikely to show on the official FIA upgrade list document.
