A Ferrari tested a new and more aggressive anti-spray protection system in tests on the Fiorano this Thursday.
Photos from the test showed the brother of Charles Leclerc, Arthur, driving a 2023 Ferrari SF-75 with fully covered front and rear tires. The guards include two holes on the front but are fully covered on the back.
The Italian team’s reserve driver, Oliver Bearmanran behind Leclerc in a 2024 car to check visibility.
The test was organized by the FIA and will not count as a filming day for Ferrari.
The FIA ran the first version of the splash guards during wet testing at Silverstone last year as it tried to find a solution that would improve the cars’ visibility in wet conditions.
While no actual images of the test were shared, the FIA did offer some 3D illustrations of the solution, which consisted of partial wheel covers on the front and rear tires.
At the time, the test was carried out by Mercedes’ reserve driver, Mick Schumacher, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ‘used’ as a control behind.
The conclusion of the first test was that the system made no significant difference to the spray levels produced by the cars.
“What was done at Silverstone, with the help of Mercedes, who created the parts, and McLaren [que dirigiu um carro para obter feedback sobre a pulverização]perhaps it was too optimistic an experiment,” Nikolas Tombazis, FIA director of single-seaters, told Motorsport.com last year.
“The spray guards covered very little of the wheel. I was quite skeptical and figured we wouldn’t see important results.”
Arthur Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75 with spray guards, Oliver Bearman, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Alessando Stefanini
With that, the FIA promised a more aggressive solution, which Ferrari took to the track on Thursday, in Fiorano.
Tombazis explained last year how complex it was to find a solution that worked successfully.
“Having started this project at the end of last year and done a lot of CFD simulations, we soon understood that it wasn’t as simple as putting something in, done and done.” he said.
“We didn’t want to lose too much of the cars’ performance and mess up the aerodynamics too much. Although some of this is inevitable.”
“And the actual aerodynamic load on these big ‘fenders’ or whatever you call them, if you have a full canopy, would be quite a high dynamic load. And so your support on the columns would have to be quite robust to not fly away. at 300 km/h.”
On Friday, Ferrari will take advantage of a day of filming to present the new aerodynamic package for next week’s Emilia Romagna GP.
Arthur Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75 with spray guards
Photo by: Alessando Stefanini
