Ferrari F14 T: Technical Analysis

Finally, after many indiscretions, today we were able to see the new "democratic" Ferrari as for the first time in its long history it let its supporters choose the name of the car that will bring the title back to Maranello after a season-long drought 2007. The fans chose the name Ferrari F14-T which begins the new turbo era in Formula 1. Let's now analyze the main characteristics of this car.


Mechanics
Although there was talk of a return to the push rod suspension at the front, the Maranello designers chose to give continuity to the project started in 2012 and confirmed the pull rod system which last year had given the F138 a lot of problems after the change of structure of the carcass carried out by Pirelli starting from the Hungarian GP.

Despite the lowering of the nose, the suspension kinematics are very extreme and the suspension rod seems to be in a more horizontal position compared to last season. this choice was made exclusively for aerodynamic reasons in order to stabilize the flows directed towards the rear axle.

At the rear the pull rod system has been retained although the suspension kinematics have been modified. If you look carefully at the rear axle you will notice that the convergence arm creates an aerodynamic profile with the upper arm in order to recover part of the downforce load that was lost due to the abolition of the beam wing (lower profile of the rear wing).

Front
The nose of the Red is conceptually different from what the other teams have shown as they have not tried to maximize the air flow under the nose itself by keeping it as high as possible. To increase the passage of air under the nose, it was chosen to exploit the maximum height of the cockpit with respect to the reference plane which the regulation sets at 625 mm. To respect the height of 525 mm in the area where the front suspension still comes, a step was created in order to increase as much as possible the air flow under the nose to be allocated to the bottom and the rear diffuser.

Sides
In this area you can see the great work done by the engine engineers who managed to create a power unit that does not require a huge cooling system. If you look at the bellies in the initial part they are more voluminous than the F138 also because the side impact rules have been changed which require more protruding protection structures. Compared to the McLaren, the cooling vents are much smaller and in the terminal part, called Coca Cola in technical jargon, they are more tapered and allow better use and exploitation of the diffuser. This was possible thanks to the intercooler cooling system created using an air/water system which allows the use of smaller radiant masses at the expense of greater weight.

Front wing
The technical regulation imposes narrower wings than what we saw last season. The wing seen on the F14 T does not deserve particular analysis as it will undergo important changes from the first tests. It will be interesting to understand the choice that the aerodynamicists will make: direct the air flow outside the tires or towards the inside?

Rear wing
A wing conceptually similar to the one used years ago by Renault (Renault RR25 and R26) has been dusted off which allows the downforce load to be maximized. In the lower part of the vertical fin, two slits have been created to increase the flow of air from the external area of ​​the wing towards the inside, while in the upper part there are six blowholes. A double support was used to support the wing inside which the central exhaust blows

diffuser
In the photo seen from the rear you can see that the rear diffuser in the external area has the fins that form an angle of 45°. This seems to be a dictate given by the new DT James Allison who had used a similar solution last year on the Lotus E21.

Eng. Cristiano Sponton