To propel Charles Leclerc (or Lewis Hamilton?) to victory, Scuderia Ferrari has deployed an unprecedented technical arsenal on its SF-26. Decryption of these innovations with our exclusive images.
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This is the appointment that Charles Leclerc has circled in red on his calendar for months. In front of his home crowd, the Monegasque driver has only one goal: to make the national anthem resonate on the Rock.
To help him achieve this dream and realize the excellent hopes born from Ferrari’s one-two finish in the first free practice session, the engineers from Maranello spared no effort.
They have concocted a highly specific “Monaco Spec” version of the SF-26, combining extreme mechanical agility, a hunt for superfluous grams, and targeted aerodynamic adjustments to adapt to the unique demands of this urban track.
A geometry for the Grand Hotel hairpin
In Monaco, the turning radius is the most critical parameter for negotiating the slowest and tightest hairpin of the championship. To increase the maximum steering angle of the front wheels without the tires rubbing against the chassis, aerodynamicists and track engineers have redesigned the track rod as well as the fairings of the suspension arms.
However, the most spectacular modification concerns the anchorage of the upper wishbone. As revealed by the exclusive shots taken in the paddock (particularly on the suspension comparison visible in the image above), the rear member of the upper wishbone has been moved back as far as possible from its position.
This ultra-aggressive configuration had been briefly tested on the very first day of pre-season testing (dubbed “Test 1” at the bottom of the image). By readopting this geometric configuration, Ferrari seeks to offer Charles Leclerc a front end with surgical precision, limiting tire-destroying understeer in the most winding sections.
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Weight Reduction
On a circuit where top speeds matter little compared to the search for traction and mechanical grip, the Scuderia has chosen to remove several components from the SF-26’s active aero system, including the master cylinder of the front wing actuator for this weekend. This technical area, usually faired, is exposed and visible in detail in the image above.
The objective? To eliminate weight from height. These precious grams have been judiciously repositioned as ballast in the lowest areas of the car, thus lowering the single-seater’s center of gravity to stabilize the car over the bumps of the Principality.
However, Ferrari has not added winglets to the rear wing, unlike Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, and Audi.
A fully loaded floor and diffuser
Since aerodynamic drag is not a penalizing factor in Monaco, Ferrari has sought to maximize low-speed downforce by optimizing the ground effect under the SF-26:
- The floor: A “Gurney” (a small vertical flap pointed to by the yellow arrow in the image above) has been added to the trailing edge of the second element of the front floor to increase local depression and push the car to the ground.
- The diffuser: A similar flap and an additional rigid metal support have been installed on the last element of the diffuser’s lower wing, technical details identified by the yellow arrows in the image below.
This support stiffens the carbon parts under high load and ensures constant aerodynamic downforce, thus offering full confidence to Leclerc and Hamilton, who set the best times in the first two free practice sessions of the Grand Prix.
All technical conditions seem to be met. Now it remains to convert this into success during qualifying, the most crucial exercise of the year in Monaco.
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