Why Ferrari changed plans with its experimental F1 floor in Qatar

Ferrari arrived in Qatar with its experimental floor in tow once more, fitting it on Charles Leclerc’s car for first free practice with Carlos Sainz having initially run it in Las Vegas.

Whilst it had been assumed that the truncated practice running of a sprint weekend would result in the floor being installed for a few runs and then hurriedly pushed aside until Abu Dhabi, it actually remained on Leclerc’s car for the entire race weekend.

The floor was initially commissioned in order to glean some real-world information on design solutions that may, or may not, feature in 2025.

However, it is understood that the initial feedback from its drivers suggested that the floor, whilst perhaps not offering a quantitative performance uplift, did at least help with car balance – which is what prompted the change of plan for Leclerc to race with it.

The changes for this floor, which are quite substantial when compared to the previous specification, are a bridge between two different development streams, with some older ideas that hadn’t worked in the past revisited.

This speaks volumes for the improved correlation between its simulation tools and the real world environment, following the refurbishment that took place earlier in the season of its wind tunnel facilities.

Ferrari, like its rivals, has often had correlation issues during this regulatory era, as this generation of car is easily disrupted by ride height fluctuations.

The new floor is interesting for a number of reasons, as there’s not one specific design avenue that was adjusted.

Instead, it was an all-encompassing refresh that covered the floor fences, forward expansion of the underfloor, the floor’s edge and the sidewall of the diffuser ramp.

The most interesting aspect of this overhaul that is visible is the design of the edge wing, as it’s one we’ve seen from Ferrari before, both in 2022 and 2023.

The team has seen fit to head in a different direction when it couldn’t quite unlock the performance it expected it to deliver.

The more slender L-shaped rear section to the edge wing has been seen on other cars too, suggesting that it’s a solution that looks good by the numbers but perhaps requires other pieces of the jigsaw puzzle all to fit together to get the absolute most from it.

For example, this variant not only has a flatter surface relative to the ground along its length, but the ratio of surface area taken up by the edge wing along its length, versus the floor edge alongside, has been altered. 

Meanwhile, it also required adaptations be made to the metal support brackets, as the degree of flexibility needed from it may vary somewhat when compared to their current solution.

Of course, we won’t know the full extent of all the changes that have been made to this floor, as there’s clearly a set of corresponding alterations made to the underfloor, which aren’t visible to us.

However, what is clear is that the team will feel that it is moving in the right direction with both its current and future projects.

Alpine’s new wing

Alpine A524 new nose, Qatar GP

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Alpine arrived at the Qatar Grand Prix with new parts for the A524, as the team began evaluating another design route ahead of what is likely to be its direction going into 2025.

A new front wing and nose which are designed to complement one another was run on Pierre Gasly’s car in Qatar, whilst the team is due to receive another set of parts for Jack Dohan in Abu Dhabi.

The change to the nose is what has essentially opened up this development path, with the tip section now narrower and more squared-off across the front.

The overall length of the structure has been reduced, in order that it sits atop the second front wing element, rather than on top of the mainplane.

This has resulted in the mainplane and secondary flap elements being reconfigured to better suit the airflow and pressure characteristics posed by the alterations made to the nose.

There’s now also an additional metal slot gap separator bracket mounted either side of the nose tip between the two front wing elements.

Alpine A524 Front Wing comparison (highlights)

Photo by: Uncredited

The upper flaps have also been revised as a consequence of the aforementioned alterations, with the previously arched trailing edge of the uppermost flap completely flattened out (dotted yellow line) and a more uniform spanwise chord distribution applied to both flaps.

Furthermore, the static sections of those upper flaps have also been amended (circled) which, owing to the narrower nose, there’s now more surface area exposed than before, resulting in their geometry being optimised around the new airflow conditions they are exposed to.