Ferrari is bringing a large-scale conversion of the SF-24 to the Monza track this Formula 1 weekend. There are no fewer than nine changes to the cars driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the Scuderia's home race. Only two of these (front wing and rear wing) are track-specific modifications for the high-speed track in the Royal Park. The remaining components are mainly related to the underbody.
The fact that the update is coming in Monza has nothing to do with the importance of the Italian GP as a home race. Ferrari chief engineer Jock Clear makes this clear: “It is not an underbody that is specifically made for Monza.” Rather, the upgrade is aimed at delivering performance throughout the rest of the season.
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Specifically, the adapted underbody includes the complete package: the floor body, as well as the fences and the underbody edge have been renewed. In the process, some changes were also made to the diffuser and to the engine cover, which is equipped with a deeper undercut.
There is nothing completely new about the Ferrari. It is an evolution of the official underbody, which, after an initial extensive update in Barcelona, had brought with it a well-known weak point: the bounce had returned. “It's a trap we fell into earlier this season,” said Clear.
The Monza upgrade is a response to the upgrades at the Spanish GP and is intended to eliminate the problem, Ferrari is convinced of this with reference to its own simulations. “We can now model this better and we are much more confident that we will be able to produce underfloors that will not have any problems once we put them on the real track,” the Ferrari engineer said optimistically.
Bounce has been a defining issue in the premier class since the start of the ground effect era in 2022. The massive problems that arose across the field at the beginning of the regulation cycle are now history, but bounce is never completely ignored. Because the gain in downforce in the simulator also increases the likelihood of this effect, in which the downforce sucks the car onto the track surface, then touches down there – often on bumps – and is thrown back again. The result is a sudden loss of downforce.
This danger cannot be detected in the wind tunnel. The only solution is often more ground clearance, which automatically sacrifices performance. This is also related to a major problem with the Ferrari SF-24 in recent months, which had difficulty generating downforce, especially in long corners. The problem is particularly noticeable in this type of corner.
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The fact that this hoped-for solution is making its debut at Ferrari's second home race of the Formula 1 season is simply due to the Reds' development plan. “If Zandvoort had been this weekend, for example, we would have brought it to Zandvoort. It's not about it being a Ferrari track and us being in Italy. We are developing as quickly as we can,” said Clear.
The characteristics of the high-speed track in Monza speak in Ferrari's favor anyway. The Scuderia has also always coped well with the 5,793-kilometer-long circuit near Milan in recent years. In addition, the newly asphalted track may offer potential for graining. Ferrari has always done well on race weekends where tire graining was an issue in the recent past.
