Ferrari and Williams installed new modifications on the floor; the Maranello based tested it during Friday’s practice sessions.
In a bid to reduce downforce by 10% for the 2021, the FIA had enforced a string of new rules. One of the new guidelines was for there to be a simple tapered edge ahead of the rear tyre.
The newly introduced rule saw teams partaking in the new season adopt for a two prolonged strategy. Whilst some teams preferred the traditional tapered option, others made a foray with the new Z-shaped floor cutouts.
Ferrari To Use Z-shaped Floor On Sunday
The Z-shaped floor cutout steadfastly turns out to be a popular option with Ferrari and Williams bringing it to Imola. Ferrari tested the new floor option on Carlos Sainz’s car during FP1 with changes also being introduced in terms of the topside aero devices used to move the airflow across the floor’s surface.
The trio of fins mounted midway down the floor have been removed while a nefin creates an aerodynamic fulcrum upon the commencement of the Z-floor shaped cutout.
The change including a raft of tweaks gave birth a massively improved Ferrari car on Friday. As per the data collected on the day, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the third fastest driver during FP2.
“It’s not been an easy day on my side, but the performance has been great for me today,” Leclerc said after Friday’s sessions. FP1, unfortunately we didn’t do the first part for a small problem. But then the car felt good, the feeling was good.
“Then FP2, we got our lap time deleted for very small margins in Turn 9. But yeah, most important is to not do the same thing in quali. But the performance was there too, also in the race pace, was good. Then I did a mistake in the last corner and went into the wall, but better to do it now than in the race.”
“It feels better than last year [at Imola]; we have to wait and see tomorrow when we are all pushing in qualifying because for now, it’s difficult to believe we are so close to the top teams,” Leclerc said.
“I’m pretty sure they have more to come tomorrow so let’s wait and see. It’s all track and temperature specific because we haven’t changed the car at all.
“The car feels a lot better in those conditions. Even if we compare to last year, it felt much better this weekend. The grip is good, the balance is good, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
