As the F1-less month of January seems to go on like turmoil, the F1 teams are all keeping us fans excited this year with some extra special teasers of their upcoming cars. Not only will it be a chance to see the new liveries but it will also be the first time we see what the new generation of F1 cars look like. The show car F1 paraded around Silverstone last year was an example of what would happen if the teams built the most obvious solution to all the regulations (basically what the Haas VF22 will look like). This means the show car is going to be vastly different to real machines run by the teams.
Of the four teams who have confirmed their release dates, Ferrari has given the least away about what their 2022 car will look like. Partly due to the mammoth expectation regarding what Ferrari as a team could accomplish this year. However, it hasn’t stopped Italian sports newspapers from finding some details about the SF22.
The first of these is that it may not be called the SF22. In 2019 and 2020, Ferrari named their cars after special events of their respective years. With 2019’s SF90 tributing the 90th anniversary of Scuderia Ferrari and 2020’s SF1000 celebrating the team’s 1000th Grand Prix. 2022 is another of these special years as its 75 years of Ferrari’s automotive side, and to this has been pronounced with a special logo and clip from the brand. All this will likely culminate into the new F1 car being labelled the SF75.
https://www.motor1.com/news/557642/ferrari-75th-anniversary-logo/
With the name settled, let’s move on to the machine it adorns. It has been reported the car will run pull-rod suspension for the first time since 2012, however just at the front. A pull-rod setup means that the flow of the car is diverted to the bottom of the car. The advantages lie in the ability to lower the nose and place components closer to the floor. This is key because most of the new car’s downforce comes from the ground effect ducts mounted on the floor so more air is directed there.
To make the most of this pull-rod design, Ferrari will have to also lower the nose and interestingly it has been rumoured their nose design is “very aggressive”. This could mean a myriad of things but as I said earlier, theoretically Ferrari will be trying to make their nose as low as possible. Considering the likes of Mercedes had needed squared sides to raise the nose of the front wing, Ferrari will likely follow the rendered designs and have curved sides so the nose sits right on the front wing. This doesn’t particularly fulfil the “aggressive” claim so I predict the nose will be angled aggressively. If you look at the rendered 2022 designs, the nose stays at a shallow and constant angle versus the sudden step down in the 2021 nose. I predict Ferrari will use such a step-nose solution means it will be very low and at a very steep angle or even a very low bulkhead
Ferrari and all teams will run a different livery at the season’s first week of testing at Barcelona (and potentially at launch) before switching to their permanent ones for the season. Ferrari will be changing their base colour from vivid red at launch and the first test to a darker tone (not so much as 1000gp special or back of 2021) for the rest of the season.
Articles, News, Opinions, Reviews and Insights about F1 and Exotics
- F1 Launch Season 2022 | Week 1 Debrief - February 14, 2022
- Sleeping Giant Lotus Has Something Very Special Coming Our Way - February 9, 2022
- McLaren Release New Details On Their 2022 Plan - February 5, 2022