Ferrari brings upgraded floor to Bahrain Grand Prix after disqualification hints at setup issues

SAKHIR–Scuderia Ferrari has brought the biggest upgrade of any team to the Bahrain Grand Prix, hoped to push out any setup issues responsible for the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton in China and a lack of pace in Japan.

While teammate Charles Leclerc was also disqualified after car was found to be underweight due to an oversight by the team, the team has reportedly blamed his issue on a leaking water system.

It was Hamilton, however, disqualified due to excessive damage to his rear skid block, with an unusual issue that hinted at issues in the way the car is positioned horizontally. Whatever the issue with their setup, the resulting effect dragged the floor towards the surface of the circuit and created greater than expected wear on the mandatory skid block at the rear.

As for hints to the issue at hand, Hamilton's team radio during the Japanese Grand Prix indicated the car was down on pace through the hairpin corners. Hamilton, who reportedly prefers a low floor height and stiff setup, could have struggled with a looser setup in these corners where he must manage the change in the car's horizontal angle while steering it through a hairpin or double-apex corner, compared to other corners where the issue is less pronounced due to the corner exiting into an acceleration zone on a straight. A looser setup could mean the rear clearance is less predictable as the car accelerates.

While not directly linking the upgrade to the disqualification, the team has brought an entirely new front floor and fence package to improve downstream aerodynamic losses.

"The reshaped boat and tunnel expansion have been subsequently reoptimized," read the team's mandatory update, "together with the floor edge loading and vorticity shedding into the diffuser."

The upgrade "worked as expected" after being tested on Hamilton's car early in free practice on Friday in Bahrain, leading it to also be installed on Charles Leclerc's car, driven by rookie Dino Beganovic.

"Apart from that," said the team, "[we] went through the usual tasks of fine tuning the SF-25, starting from the baseline data acquired during last February’s test at this track."

"This was only of limited use because of the very big difference in temperatures and atmospheric conditions between then and now."

The team has brought changes to the floor fences, the floor body, floor edge, and diffuser, with the fence carrying a much gentler angle leading to a bulbous appearance when viewed from the front of the car.

All will be revealed in Bahrain, with qualifying at 2.00am AEST on Sunday before lights out for the grand prix at 1.00am on Monday.

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