The reasons behind Ferrari's US GP upgrades
by Jake Boxall-Legge · AutosportBoth Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have played down Ferrari's updates for the United States GP, but there's more to them beyond peak lap time
Ferrari's latest clutch of updates for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix feature a unique approach to the 'fingers' situated at the front edge of the floor, although both drivers have played down the significance of the new parts.
The SF-26 has also been given a minor rework to the sidepods, with a small change to the inlet and the undercut to link up with a minor change to the floor board upstream. Ferrari's pre-event technical notes state that these changes intend to increase the energy of the airflow passing to the rear of the car, with the intent of getting the diffuser to work harder.
The diffuser has also been updated to increase the expansion of the flow released from the rear of the car, by modifying the overall volume of the diffuser itself along with small tweaks to the internal floor fences.
At the front of the floor, the five floor fences (or fingers) help to control the airflow passing underneath the floor, minimising the overall turbulence present in that flow to ensure the diffuser works efficiently. Ferrari has extended the outermost finger to reach over the top, offering a horizontal flow conditioner to further improve the airflow quality here.
Lewis Hamilton kept a lid on expectations for the weekend, suggesting pre-FP1 that the tweaks are worth "less than a tenth" and that its car chiming with the Circuit of the Americas would generate a bigger performance swing, while Charles Leclerc equally downplayed the effect of the new parts.
"They are not major upgrades; I've heard quite a lot about them, but they are not as big as maybe what's going around," Leclerc stated.
"It's a small step in the right direction, obviously, as always, that's the target. Then we still need to put it on the car and do the first few laps and see whether that's the step we expected is there.
"However, there are other teams I think I've heard that are bringing big upgrades, and so we'll have to see how it is compared to them. But I don't expect anything hugely significant, but I hope it can help us just do that little step forward and help us win the races."
Ferrari demonstrated solid pace in the opening practice session of the Austin weekend with Leclerc going fastest, although Max Verstappen's short-lived benchmark was deleted for track limits.
Why introduce an upgrade worth "less than a tenth?"
If Hamilton's assessment about the Ferrari update is correct, it does sound like small potatoes given the cost outlay required in producing and shipping new parts to the US. But there's more to an update package beyond the headline numbers.
By energising the flow to the rear end of the car, the car can generate higher levels of downforce more consistently. It might not change the peak lap time by a great deal, but it should ensure that there are fewer fluctuations in aero performance due to any changes in airspeed. If you can control that airspeed moving to the rear of the car, even during the car's axial motion when braking and cornering, it provides a more stable platform.
Improving consistency is one thing, and the developments can also become a jumping-off point for 2027. The number of floor fingers will be reduced from five to three next season, so potentially exploring that floor finger extension could help to reclaim any of the performance lost next season.
These are largely speculative examples, but do partly explore the idea of why a team would press an upgrade into service when the headline numbers only yield a small improvement. Ultimately, it's about either creating a platform for whatever comes next, or enhancing the properties of the existing aerodynamics to minimise the variance in lap time.
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