Scuderia Ferrari SF70H

[jgonzalesm6]

Ferrari brings suspension, aero mods to Spa


Ferrari has introduced a detailed update to its SF70H for the Belgian Grand Prix as it bids to take the challenge at the Spa-Francorchamps track.


With the Maranello outfit having struggled to match its main title rival on high-speed circuits like Spa, many predict that it is Mercedes that will hold the edge when the F1 season resumes this weekend.

But after its 1-2 finish in Hungary last time out, Ferrari has shown how determined it is to turn the situation around with some interesting tweaks after the summer break.

New suspension

Giorgio Piola's exclusive photographs from the preparation day at Spa show that Ferrari will be running with a new front suspension – featuring a third damper.

It is understood this new configuration was trialled in the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test, with the team making the changes in a bid to help better manage its ride-height and rake angle.

As the image above show, it is possible to see a new third shock absorber as well as a larger and more threaded spring – plus numerous components that are likely intended to help gather data during Friday practice.

It is likely that the team will hope that better management of the rake angle will help produce a lower drag for Spa's long straights without compromising its cornering performance.

Aerodynamic changes

As well as the changes to the suspension, Ferrari has made some revisions to its wings and floor too.

The front wing and the endplate have been re-profiled to make it better suited for the lower drag demands of Spa, while at the rear of the car, Ferrari has a new configuration of holes ahead of the rear wheel.

Instead of the seven holes that were present in Hungary, Ferrari will be running with just six holes this weekend – plus the addition of an extra bodywork 'handle' element similar to what which Mercedes has been using since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Vettel hopes that the improvements Ferrari has made, allied to the aggressive choice of tyres Pirelli is bringing, should deliver the team a better result than it produced at the British Grand Prix last month.

"If we had to race at Silverstone again, we would do a lot better," he said. "We just didn't get a good weekend all together. It's true Mercedes was very strong there. The fact that it's likely to be similar here obviously for us makes it fairly straightforward.

"I think we have only to gain. Because of how strong they were at Silverstone and some similarities, they are the favourites going into here. But we don't want to settle behind them, we want to attack."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...on-spa-944259/

[SilverSpeed]

I Hope these updates work and don't upset the balance or make things worse.

If so we should maybe not lose to much since the taxi's brought there 4th engine update.

[zike]

I Hope these updates work and don't upset the balance or make things worse.

If so we should maybe not lose to much since the taxi's brought there 4th engine update.

Heavy rain expected on Sunday

[FerrariF60]

Heavy rain expected on Sunday

at least quali and Free practice will be dry so we can undersand how our updates will and are working

as for sunday, if it's gonna be raining....that usually reflects in a Lottery scenario....so let's hope we'll be the ones WINNIG

cheers.

[Ziggy]

Can someone point out this new "third damper" because I dont see it.

0424c3f6351f54127214b5b3e0b0296b.jpg

[ClaudiuCojo]

Can someone point out this new "third damper" because I dont see it.

0424c3f6351f54127214b5b3e0b0296b.jpg

You can see it right behind the first suspension arm sitting slightly lower.

[mizf1]

Any news on the diffuser we tested in Hungary test?

Also with Merc have introduced their final engine, are we waiting until Monza for ours? I read somewhere Haas will try out the updated engine first which makes sense incase of any reliability issues

[nani_s23]

Heavy rain expected on Sunday

Don't think so, weather is unpredictable over here. Either it will be mixed conditions or full dry in race.

[nani_s23]

Any news on the diffuser we tested in Hungary test?

Also with Merc have introduced their final engine, are we waiting until Monza for ours? I read somewhere Haas will try out the updated engine first which makes sense incase of any reliability issues

Its aimed at low drag for these kind of circuits. Ferrari tested in Hungary, they found in beneficial. That's why they wanted to use here.
Interesting thing is suspension, I think its aimed at tyre advantage. Which Ferrari suffered at high speed circuit Silverstone.

[mirafiori]

Its aimed at low drag for these kind of circuits. Ferrari tested in Hungary, they found in beneficial. That's why they wanted to use here.
Interesting thing is suspension, I think its aimed at tyre advantage. Which Ferrari suffered at high speed circuit Silverstone.

You make a very good point on the tyre situation,

[f150italia]

ferrari annoncesa new 3 year deal with vettel

[Jax]

on sky they were talking about 3D printed pistons 'pat symonds' , any news on the new engine ? numbers please ?

[zike]

anyone has autosport plus

https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature...-winner-at-spa

[ramesh]

Why Ferrari was the real winner at Spa
Though Sebastian Vettel's championship lead was cut to seven points by Lewis Hamilton's victory in the Belgium Grand Prix, it was still a win of sorts for a team never expected to seriously challenge Mercedes at Spa

By Ben Anderson
@BenAndersonAuto
Published on Monday August 28th 2017
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In the end this was the perfect outcome for Lewis Hamilton's hopes of overhauling Sebastian Vettel to win the 2017 Formula 1 world championship. Hamilton converted his Michael Schumacher-equalling 68th pole position into victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, and slashed Vettel's 14-point championship lead in half.

But Hamilton had to fight tooth and nail to get the job done. He said it took "absolutely everything of me" to beat Vettel at Spa, and feels it will take a mighty effort from now until the end of the season for Mercedes to keep him in the title fight.

"I've read lots of stories or heard lots of comments about our car being the best, or we have the fastest car," Hamilton said. "But I think it's very difficult for anyone to truly say that, because there are definitely areas where we're faster and areas where they're faster, and it varies from race to race.

"They've had the most consistent season, hence why they have been in a clear lead in the championship. While we've had a very, very solid, well put together weekend, it was only just enough to stay ahead.

"I hope we have more to come, and we need more to come in order to win this thing for sure."

This was not the way it was supposed to play out here. Spa should have been nailed-on Mercedes territory, the sort of fast and flowing high-speed track where Hamilton - armed with a new, more powerful, Mercedes engine - should have rammed home the kind of advantage he enjoyed while dominating at home in July.

There, on the high-speed sweeps of Silverstone, Hamilton was on pole by more than half a second, and could stretch away from Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari seemingly at will in the race. The Ferraris had to work so hard trying to keep up, their front-left Pirelli tyres exploded.

But the events of the Belgian GP suggest Britain was more of a dark false dawn, rather than a terrifying portent of things to come for Ferrari.

Vettel reckoned Ferrari underperformed at Silverstone anyway and a clean weekend at Spa, with a car that featured some seemingly very useful aerodynamic and mechanical revisions, put the team right in the mix.

Even negating the estimated two tenths of a second Vettel gained from being towed by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in Q3, Vettel qualified within half a second of Hamilton's pole time at Spa - a clear improvement over Silverstone when you consider Mercedes ran new engines in Belgium and Ferrari did not.

Mercedes seemed to judge this race to perfection, but we must also must consider the Hamilton factor. He carried the fight single-handed at Spa, where Ferrari was a team transformed

Ferrari must surely be planning to throw everything it has at the SF70H for its home race at Monza next time out. If it can close the qualifying deficit to Mercedes with its next development, then Ferrari stands a real chance of becoming an even bigger threat on the remaining high-speed circuits that place a premium on the sort of efficiency Mercedes has become renowned for.

Vettel will most likely need more pole positions if he is to stem the flow of the rising Hamilton tide. Spa was Hamilton's seventh pole in 12 races; Vettel only has two, and pole certainly proved key to the outcome of this race.

Hamilton just about controlled proceedings from the front, after acing the start and successfully repelling Vettel's advances on the first run along the Kemmel Straight to Les Combes.

The surprising thing is Hamilton then proved unable to drop Vettel, who spent all bar a couple of the 44 laps of this race (excluding the pitstop phase) running within two seconds of his main rival.

The truncated long running during Friday practice suggested Ferrari looked strong in race trim, and Hamilton simply couldn't shake Vettel loose, despite running in clean air at the front.

"The car is not quite where we need it," Hamilton said. "It's obviously great in qualifying trim, but in the race generally struggles. But in the last race qualifying trim was not good, and in the race I was very strong.

"It's strange, it varies from race to race, but this weekend we definitely didn't have the race pace. He was able to follow way too close, and even on the pushing laps he was able to stay within a tenth.

"So there was no room for error - that was the smallest bit of breathing space that I had, and I had to try and utilise it."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed that his team deliberately compromised its qualifying set-up for this grand prix in pursuit of strong race pace. This tactic paid off, but required a monumental effort from Hamilton to be quickest of all through the twists of sector two with downforce trimmed out in qualifying, where team-mate Valtteri Bottas was slower than both Ferraris.

"It was particularly difficult because we had to balance our qualifying performance versus the race performance and we've given up qualifying performance in the second sector in order to have that advantage in the race," Wolff explained.

"We opted for a set-up that would be the quicker race set-up. We sacrificed downforce for quali, [which] means we left lap time on the table in the second sector to have a quicker car in sector one and sector three, and that proved to be the right decision."

Hamilton was 0.063s per lap faster than Vettel on average through the first stint on ultra-softs, but Vettel enjoyed a 0.099s edge during the middle stint on soft tyres. During the final sprint to flag after the safety car restart, with Hamilton on soft tyres and Vettel on ultra-softs, Hamilton was 0.181s per lap faster.

This suggests Mercedes judged this race to perfection, giving Hamilton just enough from his car to keep Vettel at bay, despite the compromises made.

But we must also consider the Hamilton factor here. Bottas was nowhere near challenging for victory, and ultimately finished a lowly fifth after getting mugged by Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull and the recovering Ferrari of Raikkonen after the safety car restart.

Hamilton carried the Mercedes fight single-handed at Spa, where Vettel admitted Ferrari was a team transformed after the drubbing it suffered at Mercedes' hands at Silverstone.

"Overall the car was very good," said Vettel. "We didn't change too much compared to Silverstone, which shows on the one hand that Silverstone was just a bad weekend, but we improved the car also - especially the race pace, very strong.

"We were on average a second off, or nearly a second off, in Silverstone so it's a big step. I'm very, very happy. I think we are on the right track and I don't think we have a circuit we should fear, going from now."

Although he applied relentless pressure from behind, Vettel's only other real chance to steal this race away from Hamilton came at the safety car restart with 10 laps to go. The leaders pitted for fresh tyres under the safety car, which was called so marshals could clear debris from the track after the two Force Indias collided spectacularly on the approach to Eau Rouge.

Hamilton was perturbed by the decision, suggesting it was an "unnecessary" 'NASCAR-style' decision designed to spice up the closing stages of the race, but Wolff reckoned Hamilton's life would have been even harder without it.

"It would have been a less comfortable race because we needed to decide whether to pit Lewis with the blister on the rear tyre," Wolff revealed. "It was not a critical blister, but there were 14 laps left and it would have put us in a very difficult situation. So, as annoying as the safety car looked at first, it was actually optimum for us at that stage of the race for Lewis."

"I know the difficulties that may be ahead. It's going to take everything from every single one of us to finish these next eight races and come out on top"
Lewis Hamilton

But Hamilton did not face the restart on the optimum tyre compound. Mercedes ran out of new ultra-softs thanks to making an extra run in Q2, so opted for another set of soft tyres rather than risk used ultras. The Mercedes is very comfortable on the soft compound generally compared to its rivals, but that tyre has a high operating temperature range compared to the super-soft and ultra-soft, which makes it difficult to get working if you're stuck behind the safety car at slow speed...

No doubt this also played its part in Hamilton's safety car ire. Bottas described being on this tyre behind the safety car as "pretty much driving on ice", and it looked as though Hamilton might lose the race to Vettel after understeering wide at La Source on those cold tyres after the restart.

The Ferrari homed in as they blasted up Eau Rouge and drew alongside on the run to Les Combes, but couldn't quite gain enough momentum to make a crucial pass for the lead.

"My restart in the initial part was too good," said Vettel. "I was too close. We know they have very good straightline speed in their quali mode and at the start of the race I obviously felt how strong they were up the hill, so I did not want to be too far [away] either. Finding that optimum is difficult."

Hamilton revealed he engaged the wrong engine mode at the initial phase of his restart, as he attempted to give Vettel the slip by accelerating hard out of Blanchimont.

"I was able to catch him out, as I did in Baku, but didn't have the right power mode," Hamilton said. "I pulled away initially, then he started catching me up into the last corner.

"Initially it felt like that's a mistake, but it was actually a really good thing, because if I came out of the last corner with that gap, he would have had the momentum, being three or four car lengths behind, to really get a good tow and slip past me.

"We got into Turn 1 [La Source], I had very cold tyres, so I had a small lock-up. He was on the gas before me, I could hear him, and then as we were going down that straight I didn't keep it full lit the whole way, I was at 90% throttle, just to keep him as close as possible.

"I knew he wasn't going to come by, because he knows I would overtake him at the top part with the tow. As we were going up Eau Rouge, that's where I really gave it maximum power.

"He had no space to really propel himself, so he just pulled out alongside. It was a cool battle, but it was really great to go into Turn 5 [Les Combes] having done just enough to stay ahead. I was really happy with that.

"After that it was like nine or 10 laps of qualifying - heavy, fast laps to try and continue with that gap. He was very quick, he had the better tyre, so I had to pull out some really good laps to stay ahead of him."

It was clear after this race that Hamilton knew he'd been in a real dogfight, that Ferrari's impressive rate of progress is cause for concern at Brackley. The Mercedes is fast, but still inconsistent, and Hamilton is having to drive out of his skin to take the fight to Vettel in the title race. Hamilton knows Ferrari's impressive pace on this kind of archetypal Mercedes track suggests this battle is going all the way.

"I know the difficulties that may be ahead," Hamilton added. "Ferrari were quicker today, so I'm a little bit cautious mentally, knowing that we might not be the quickest everywhere up ahead, and I'm trying to figure out how we apply positive energy to my guys to encourage them to bring some more magic in these next eight races, so we can win.

"It's going to take everything from every single one of us to finish these next eight races and come out on top."

Meanwhile, Ferrari should take enormous encouragement from this near-miss. As Raikkonen said in the aftermath of Spa: "People expected that it would easily be a Mercedes circuit, but it wasn't, so we're doing the right things."

That's why Ferrari can feel like it still claimed a victory of sorts in the Belgian GP, defying expectations to put Mercedes under severe pressure on the sort of circuit at which the silver cars should have dominated.

Sure, Hamilton just about won the battle in the end, but the way things are going Vettel may well still end up winning the war.

[From Treviso]

Hard to say if the Ferraris were quicker - on average between the 4 teams mates, it looked like the Mercs had the edge. However, it also appeared that Vettel was impeded somewhat by the turbulence from the trail of Lewis's car, which supports the theory that perhaps Vettel would have simply drawn away from Lewis had he placed his Ferrari in front of the Merc. Still, looks like the Merc has the most raw pace, whilst the Ferrari is consistently quick lap after lap, race after race. It's even harder to compare when you have the variables in the drivers, because it's quite possible a Max Verstappen in the Ferrari may have been crazy enough in qualy to be on pole. Sorry to bring in this outsider, but it's food for thought.

[mizf1]

Thanks Ramesh

[jgonzalesm6]

Max Verstappen will take grid penalties for the Italian Grand Prix after his Belgium engine failure, says Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner.

Verstappen was running fifth early in the Spa F1 race when he shifted from third to fourth out of the last corner and immediately lost power as his Renault engine went into a safe mode.

It came after Verstappen swapped to his fourth internal combustion of the year ahead of final practice, meaning any further change will spark grid penalties.

He is also on the limit with MGU-Hs, having used four, but has so far used three turbochargers and only two MGU-Ks, energy stores and control electronics.

"I can understand his frustration but the majority of them have been beyond our control," Horner told Autosport.

"He's now staring down the barrel of a bunch of penalties in Monza so it is really frustrating for him.

"Our engine partners have apologised and are quite aware that their reliability and product isn't where it should be."

[mizf1]

at least he has less chance of taking a Ferrari out into turn 1 at Monza if he is kept at arms lenght

[Jax]

at least he has less chance of taking a Ferrari out into turn 1 at Monza if he is kept at arms lenght

don't worry, there is bottas

[mizf1]

don't worry, there is bottas

That is true, we have seen n the past Bottas gets a by carried away in the first few corners of a race

[mizf1]

Quali will be super Important as usual, DRS will have less impact here as the cars will already be trimmed down to the barebones in rear wing

[zike]

Quali will be super Important as usual, DRS will have less impact here as the cars will already be trimmed down to the barebones in rear wing

im just wandering how much of a boost will the new engine give us

[FerrariF60]

Does anyone else have more info or know for a fact that we’re gonna introduce a 4th and upgraded engine in Monza??
I’ve heard them talk (comentators like pat Simmonds and the likes after the GP the other day) that Ferrari will bring an updated engine at Monza, one that will have the 3D steel printed pistons which will probably give us more power by being able to raise the pressure in the combustion chambers, obviously that’s a no brainer.

But going by this older article from back in January, the creator of this article was saying that Ferrari will introduce such piston designs as early as beginning of the season; so does that mean we ARE ALREDY running these pistons in our engine from the beginning of the season??

I’m a bit confused….and here’s the article I’m talking about

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...inting-870008/

[bobi_ve]

http://www.thisisf1.com/2017/08/28/m...hisisF1.com%29

If all of that's true, then seems we were pretty good in Spa, with old engine to be in few tenths against brand new Mercedes engine which had 1,2 L usage of oil.
I thought it was huge tech mistake not bringing brand new engine in Spa, but maybe they wait bringing brand new engine for the new rule about oil usage next week.

I wonder can we get them in Monza with brand new engine and according the new FIA's rule about 0.9 L of oil per race.

[Stormy]

So is it actually possible that are new 0.9L engine is better than their 1.2L engine?

[stefa]

I know it is easier said than done, but we need a win on Sunday at Moza!

[jgonzalesm6]

If the SF-70H does not get pole, then it will be difficult to overtake the Merc's in the opening lap due to the disturbed air/turbulence/wake from the lead car....WE HAVE TO

GET POLE from here on out so our probability of winning the race goes up. Pole in this era/formula/aero most likely gets you a win.

[Greig]

Saturday's might well cost us the title, clearly we have a great race car but it's just lacking a bit on a Saturday. Hopefully the new oil rules help us.

[FerrariF60]

Saturday's might well cost us the title, clearly we have a great race car but it's just lacking a bit on a Saturday. Hopefully the new oil rules help us.

from my understanding Greig ( and please prove me if i'm wrong), the Merc has broken the gentlemans agreement wiht Ferrari and introduced their 4th engine in Spa (which in terms or oil usage it (that engine) can still be using 1.2L of oil per 100kg of fuel) whereas from Monza onwards any upgraded engine taht is being being introduced (and that is including Ferrari from the rumors) will have to conform to the new rules of 0.9l of oil usage per 100Kg of fuel.

so dont' really knwo how the "new rules" per say it's gonna help us or be in our favour.....

[jgonzalesm6]

from my understanding Greig ( and please prove me if i'm wrong), the Merc has broken the gentlemans agreement wiht Ferrari and introduced their 4th engine in Spa.....

there was no "gentlemans agreement" between Mercedes and Ferrari....