The Ferrari F14 T is the fifth new car for the 2014 season to appear.
By comparing it with its predecessor, the F138, we can see evidence of many of the major changes in rules for the coming season, and Ferrari’s solutions to them.
As with the other cars seen so far, it’s the treatment of the awkward rules governing the dimensions of the nose and the crash structure which attract immediate attention.
While other teams so far appear to have gone down the route of using a long, thin addition to the nose to satisfy the rules, Ferrari’s drops down sharply at the front.
However the front-on view reveals another interesting aspect of Ferrari’s car, and potentially a more significant one. The cooling vents in the side pod are noticeably smaller than those seen on other cars such as the McLaren MP4-29, whose vents look more like something from the V10.
Cooling is a major talking point this year as the high temperatures generated by the new turbo and uprated engine recovery systems. Have Ferrari found a more efficient solution than Mercedes, whose powertrain is in the McLaren?
The pull-rod front suspension, which Ferrari began using in 2012, remains on the car. However McLaren, who switched to pull-rod last year, have reverted to push-rod for this year’s car.
The side and top views of the car reveal the enlarged dimensions of the rear of the car. Although cars have less fuel to carry this year – they are limited to 100kg per race – the new engines and ancillary components take up more space.
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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
25th January 2014, 16:04
The rear wing almost looks like a straight CTRL+C, CTRL+V job. Even down to the livery and sponsors.
SoLiDG (@solidg)
26th January 2014, 8:14
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ferrari is throwing some sand in our eyes.
As most teams this car won’t look anything like this in Melbourne or maybe even next week!
BasCB (@bascb)
26th January 2014, 14:41
Rear wing, Front wing too, yeah @magnificent-geoffrey. Guess that will change as soon as they have their shakedown behind them, or even before that
bananarama (@bananarama)
25th January 2014, 16:06
Isn’t she lovely, isn’t she beautiful … It doesn’t look that much different, the front is even a bit higher, the sidepods pretty similar, probably a little more volume due to length but they do need a lot of cooling. The back was somehow more defined but there lies a lot of development ahead of this car, I guess it will change a lot until the first race and more until the end of the season. Maybe they can finally up their development now their facilities should be ready and they have a quick mover in Allison back on board.
Fsoud (@udm7)
25th January 2014, 16:30
Its definitely way better than expected. Beats F2012 by…a few seconds, really.
The nose is too much like a vacuum cleaner, I hope the car doesn’t suck.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
25th January 2014, 17:06
I love these comparison pieces, it really gives you an insight into how the cars evolve year on year. The differences between the noses are dramatic to say the least!
the_sigman (@sigman1998)
25th January 2014, 17:06
Did anyone find differences? :P
maarten.f1 (@)
25th January 2014, 17:14
@sigman1998 oh, oh! I found one! One has a UPS logo on the side, and the other doesn’t.
BJ (@beejis60)
25th January 2014, 21:49
@maarten-f1 UPS sponsored them last year too, but the sponsorship started after the debut of the car.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th January 2014, 17:07
It’s astonishing how far the teams go trying to get the nose so high up. Even a very high CoG doesn’t detriment the benefits of the massive airflow going thorugh beneath the nose….
TheBass (@)
25th January 2014, 17:08
What a depressing image :'(
Jake (@jagged-jake)
25th January 2014, 17:52
Thank you Keith for illuminating analysis, looking forward to the launch of other big two.
Neil
25th January 2014, 18:46
I bet McLaren are sat thinking ‘oops, have we overdone it on the cooling?’ and Ferrari are sat thinking ‘crap, maybe we need bigger intakes’. And Lotus are sat wondering which amusing cat picture to put on Twitter.
Fascinating how different they are in that area, but then the engines will be different with different bits and bobs and intercoolers and suchlike…
JohnNik (@johnnik)
25th January 2014, 21:26
I genuinely “LOL’ed” at the Lotus comment.
I guess there will be massive insight gained into any under/over cooling issues next week. With these “powertrain” changes I think we could see the biggest differences in the cars between testing and the first race for many years. Also wouldn’t be surprised to see some teams switch nose designs between now and Oz.
BJ (@beejis60)
25th January 2014, 21:51
Here’s hoping Lotus is fastest so that everyone tries to adopt the double dong nose.
clay (@clay)
25th January 2014, 22:36
LOL at the double dong nose! I hope that name catches on for the Lotus nose. Honestly what are the FIA thinking when it comes to drafting regulations which provide these solutions? We are getting cars which are progressively uglier with each passing season. I really liked the cars of 2009 and 2010. They looked sleek and clean compared to the cars which followed, especially in the years since the step nose (although I really liked the 2012 Sauber). It will be interesting to see which of the cars is the least ugly this year, as opposed to which is the best looking…
TMF (@)
25th January 2014, 18:59
What’s quite interesting is the small sidepods – with the additional cooling requirements, I was expecting bigger inlets.
Chad (@chaddy)
25th January 2014, 19:04
Never thought Ferrari would have the ugliest car on the grid
johnny stick
25th January 2014, 20:25
Sorry guys, pull rod front, very low and wide front nose, funky rear brake ducts, it just looks slow. But we will all know in a few days who quick and whose not.
Jake (@jleigh)
25th January 2014, 22:23
I seriously doubt that, try a couple of months.
Strontium (@strontium)
25th January 2014, 21:23
The red is slightly darker this year :(
There is even more black than last year, and last year was bed :(
Livery looks overall much more messy this year :(
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th January 2014, 21:30
I kind of like it I was not a fan of stepped noses so this is not the end of the world to me but as mentioned in the article the 1st car I saw, the McLaren seems to have larger air intakes and a bulkier look, McLaren states they are worried with reliability so you would imagine they have been cautious with the design that said their car looks very big and after seeing the Ferrari I can only think they have something on their sleeve it’s impressive to think that the Ferrari and the Mercedes have aimed for such different cooling needs, From that point on I’ve seen the lotus and the Ferrari and both look slimmer even if the lotus pic is just cad I’m confident that their car is quite slim. I more interested in the fact Ferrari have stood with the pull front suspension especially after listening to Scalabroni’s lecture on it, in short he found from a short analysis no reason to go for pull.
MarkM (@mpmark)
25th January 2014, 21:51
if this new cars a flop Alonso surely will be eyeing the highest bidder (McLaren 2015?)
jre_f1 (@jre_f1)
26th January 2014, 0:02
Alonso will never go to McLaren. Not in a million years.
John Cousins (@drone)
26th January 2014, 5:23
Very interested to hear about boost levels being run in the different engine manufacturers/teams. Could it be that Ferrari run a different compression ratio or lower boost than other manufacturers, therefore requiring a smaller intercooler? Maybe they run their intercooler in the spine of the car and the intake behind the main air feed feeds the smaller intercooler? Is anyone going to run some kind of radical new heat exchanging technology or perhaps a water to air intercooler? (I know there’s a weight penalty but there are advantages… Toyota used one back in the days of the early GT4 rally cars)
Turbocharger compressor wheel design took huge leaps forward thanks to the last era of F1 and hopefully the same will happen this time with great benefits in small engine technology. If you cut a F1 engine in half it becomes an 800cc 3 cylinder which is probably the sort of thing that would be used in the next generation of hybrid sports coupe for the masses! Then there’s all the talk of wast heat recuperator technologies.
Turbos returning to F1 is what I have been waiting for… I knew it would happen one day but I almost cried when Bernie delayed it until 2014…. AND HERE WE ARE!!!!
I’m literally so fizzing with excitement I’ve almost forgotten about the noses… Almost.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
26th January 2014, 16:25
Does anyone have some short explanation about the difference of performance between pull and push rod suspension? Thanks!
hobbsy009 (@hobbsy009)
26th January 2014, 17:14
Im excited to see if ferrari can get the pull rod suspension working this year. seems like teams cant really seem to nail it- Id like to see red bull have a go
Zain Siddiqui
26th January 2014, 20:36
I love how we all pretend that we have more engineering knowledge than the guys at Ferrari. James Allison (a Cambridge graduate) and the like.
Geo (@geo)
27th January 2014, 8:41
The aerodynamic differences are dramatic. Ferarri must elated to have a wind tunnel again. I wonder if the wider sloped nose will help with front end traction. Many drivers have stated that they think the new cars will have grip issues. Time will tell who made the right choice in noses
Ben (@scuderia29)
30th January 2014, 16:08
I dont think the noses are as crucial to the aerodynamics as us fans would think
Geo (@geo)
27th January 2014, 8:48
About air-cooling, I don’t think that the engine cooling is as much the issue as is keeping the bigger KERS system running. This has been an issue with Red Bull since KERS was first put into play. Adrian Newey always likes to keep things tight and small. But any team that has to turn the KERS limiter down or off will greatly suffer against those who have it running.
majix
27th January 2014, 19:19
SO Ferrari are calling this years car the FIAT!
majix
27th January 2014, 21:28
So Ferrari are calling their 2014 car the FIAT, might as well call it the Fiat uno turbo.