Ferrari made several aerodynamic changes in Malaysia that are the evolution of concepts that have been used since the beginning of the season, but the greatest attention was drawn by the new form of air intake above the driver’s head.
Unlike most of the teams, the Ferrari had a very narrow airbox above the driver’s head, but it changed in Malaysia so the SF70H now has the same shape as before but with two additional ducts on each side.
With this solution, Ferrari moved closer to the solutions used by the Mercedes-Benz engines, and the reason for the change is the new ERS system cooler that is of a different kind, shape and position in the Ferrari’s car with engineers wanting to achieve better rear mass rearrangement.
It is also possible that changes to the cooling system are conditioned by a new specification of a power unit that Ferrari has not yet used in Malaysia, but also for improved cooling, especially in Malaysia, which will certainly come in handy and will help increase the efficiency of the power unit without introducing new elements.
The SF70H also has some aerodynamic changes, especially in the area behind the front wheels that is intensively developed in 2017.
The main bargeboard (white) still has two vertical slots (red) but the front part is now cut off and makes a separate element (green) that resembles the sidepod deflector of Renault and McLaren.
In addition to the main bargeboard’s shape, Ferrari has also changed its footplate, where there are now five small sloping horizontal (purple) wings that create swirling vortices and send them under the car floor, thus increasing aerodynamic efficiency in this sensitive area and affecting the rear of the floor.
The Ferrari has slightly changed the number and shape of slots in front of the rear wheels, and use the rear wing for high downforce requirements with a flat main profile.
