Ferrari has identified an unusual reason for the drop in results

In recent races, Ferrari has experienced a downturn in results. The team stopped fighting for victories and their car became the fourth fastest after the implementation of the latest major update package.

There were many assumptions that the problems were related to the correlation of data obtained on the simulator and on the real track, but the real reason turned out to be different.

The changes that caused Ferrari problems included a new underbody and diffuser, and were supposed to increase downforce. And this goal was achieved, but it turned out that the front and rear suspension, due to configuration features, were not able to cope sufficiently with the increased downforce, which led to an imbalance. In other words, Ferrari’s problems arose because the new products were too good.

After the switch to the current technical regulations in 2022, the effectiveness of the aerodynamic concept, which generates the majority of the downforce under the car, depends on an equally effective suspension setup to counteract the sway on the straights. In our case, Ferrari managed to increase the downforce, but at the cost of worsening the balance of the car.

Since 2022, engineers have been saying that simulating the swing of a car is very difficult, so it’s possible that Ferrari only realised they had missed the mark with their latest innovations when the car with them first hit the track.