Ferrari was the first team to launch their 2011 car today in Maranello. The new F150 is a conceptual evolution of previous year F10 with all the necessary changes demanded by the new F1 rules. As usual in F1 car launches at this time of the season the cars carry simplified or outdated front and rear wings and many aerodynamic details will change until the first 2011 race. The most interesting aspects of the new F150 are hidden inside.---



New rules and more strict crash tests dictate a maximum height of 670mm in the front part of the chassis and the F150 is a bit taller than previous year’s F10. You can see in the image below the difference between the new car (right) and the old (left).



Another obvious change is the smaller openings on the sidepods. This could be attributed to the mandatory weight distribution that places more weight at the rear. This affects the complete design of the car and if the –big- radiators are moved backwards the sidepod ducting could be optimized for these smaller openings. Ferrari with MTS and Magnetti Marelli designed an all new system (along) build over the knowledge acquired in 2009 season. The crankshaft is redesigned in order to integrate the KERS components and because of that the lubrication and cooling system is also modified. Batteries, a very heavy component, are placed under the fuel cell, a spaced usually reserved for ballast. The engine has also an updated pneumatic valvetrain in order to avoid the reliability problems of 2010. Ferrari will provide complete engine/KERS packages to Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sauber.



The image above is a comparative planview between the 2010 F10 (above) and the new F150. This is the launch version of F10 where the exhausts were placed in the sidepods although later Ferrari introduced an exhaust blown diffuser. This year with the ban on double diffusers the exhaust ports are blown over the –single and smaller- diffuser. A very clever idea proposed by Craig Scarborough was to stack the exhausts vertically, the one above the diffuser and the other through the allowed small starter motor hole exploiting a loophole and thus introduce flow directly through the diffuser.



The rear wing is mounted on a single central pylon and it incorporates the new for 2011 movable rear wing. Aerodynamic optimization is quite difficult because the wing must perform well in both positions, high and low downforce. Of course it is very premature to make conclusions for the aero package in such an early stage, many things will change or remain still secret.

The rear suspension is a push rod system. With the current regulations there is no obvious advantage for either push or pull configurations. There is a possibility that F150 is equipped with a suspsnsion interlink system that connects not only the front wheel with the rear but also diagonally (front left with rear right etc). This isn’t something new in principal but it has to prove its value on track.

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More info:
http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com
http://www.ferrarif150.com

photos - Ferrari