FIA reveal details of Ferrari new floor specification for Japan

Michelle Foster 22 Sep 2023 2:07 AM

Ferrari pit stop practice at Suzuka. — Ferrari have reportedly brought their last big upgrade of the year to the Suzuka circuit.

Ferrari have reportedly brought their final big upgrade of the season to the Japanese Grand Prix, the team introducing a revised floor as they seek to hunt down Mercedes in the championship.

Last time out in Singapore, Ferrari closed the gap to just 24 points as Carlos Sainz wrote his name down the answer to a trivia question as he was the one who ended Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s winning streak.

This weekend while Ferrari have all but ruled out adding a second win at Suzuka given the nature of the track should best suit Red Bull’s RB19, the Scuderia have brought new parts as part of their development path with an eye to challenging Red Bull next season.

Tweaks for Ferrari and Mercedes but nothing from Red Bull

Ferrari have a new floor body with the team having revised the front floor fences, floor edges, mid floor, and diffuser sidewall.

This has necessitated a change in the undercut of the sidepods and has been billed by Ferrari as not being Suzuka-specific, rather it’s part of the standard development process.

The aim of the upgrade is load distribution in a bid to increase the car’s efficiency.

Mercedes also have a new rear wing on hand with the P2 team in the championship having added a vane to the outer face of the rear wing endplate.

This should generate a small vortex that should in turn create a small amount of local downforce and drag.

As for championship leaders Red Bull, they haven’t brought anything new to the circuit with the team expected to again trial the floor edges they moved from the car after Friday’s practice in Singapore.

RedBull ha vuelto a montar el nuevo suelo que estrenó en Singapur y que no montó en la carrera.

Red Bull is testing again the new floor that did not race in Singapore.#f1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/z3xkFgzh7z

— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega)September 21, 2023

McLaren, who introduced another big upgrade package in Singapore where Lando Norris raced his way to second, have two new parts: beam wing and sidepod inlet.

While the wing in circuit-specific, and is intended to reduce aerodynamic load and drag efficiency, the sidepod inlet modification has been done to improve both flow and cooling.

Aston Martin have a new front brake duct scoop designed for Suzuka, a circuit with fewer braking requirements, while Williams have new floor fences.