Ferrari’s upgrades hit the testing track in Fiorano

Friday is a big day in the Formula 1 world.

While the grid will be silent this weekend, as the schedule allows for a week off between last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix and next weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, that does not mean the teams are taking the week off. One team hard at work? Ferrari, as the Scuderia are using Thursday and Friday as filming days at their Fiorano test track to test a round of upgrades to the SF-24 that they are bringing to Imola next weekends.

And now we have our first look at some of the new components.

Photos surfaced on Friday of the upgraded SF-24, thanks to Formu1a.uno. As you can see in this photograph below, here is the new look challenger:

Using this photograph I took of the SF-24 on pit lane in Miami, you can see some of the tweaks to the SF-24:

Two noticeable changes to this untrained eye? First is the front inlet, which has moved away from the “underbite” design you can see here to the “overbite” design favored by both Red Bull and McLaren. Here is the underbite front inlet highlighted:

And now the “overbite” front inlet:

Another change? The vents on the engine cover. As you can see in the above photograph from Miami, the previous SF-24 had three vents on the side, while the upgraded SF-24 has a single vent at the rear. Here is the previous design from Miami, highlighted:

And the new single vent, highlighted:

There are of course other new elements that can be ascertained by a more skilled set of eyes. According to Formu1a.uno, the upgraded SF-24 contains “ ... includes: bottom, inverted inlets, new body work and modified bellies and minor changes on the front wing, rear wing and in the various aerodynamic appendages around the cockpit . The main part of these updates is undoubtedly the bottom, entirely redesigned, with the lower part of the car body having been adapted accordingly.”

But those are the new elements.

The bigger question is this: Will they work?

We will know more in a week.