Why Ferrari's 2017 ideas could be hard to copy

For Ferrari, 2017 is a very important year and appropriately enough there are some very interesting aerodynamic designs on the new car, even in launch spec, that reflect that.

When Ferrari signed Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion, for 2015 and he won three races against the might of Mercedes, it wasn't a bad result. So, we expected 2016 to be another step forwards.

Instead, it was a serious step backwards. Ferrari didn't win a race and took only 11 podium finishes, dropping to a distant third in the constructors' championship. And it lost highly-rated technical director James Allison, starts work at Mercedes next week.

Some would say that was downright careless, but Ferrari made that happen. With James's personal challenges last year, an arm around the shoulder was required but Ferrari's management decided to go back to its more traditional way and not do that.

When did that approach last work? The answer is that it was back when I was transporting an F1 car to races on a trailer behind a van!

Times have changed, and this year is so important for Ferrari because of the rule changes and the fact both drivers' contracts are up for renewal. Success is vitally important.

Ferrari certainly hasn't followed the blueprint it has done for the past few years, or even tried to copy the all-conquering Mercedes. There are a few interesting ideas, but as always, interesting is one thing, making them work another.

FRONT WING/NOSE

Ferrari has continued to use a thumb-style central section nose, more or less as in 2016. The trailing edges of the front wing mounts develop into a turning vane to help direct the airflow more to the centre of the car and then turn it outwards slightly.

This is to maximize the airflow that passes in between the front wheels, although, interestingly, Mercedes doesn't bother with this style of turning vane.

The front wing is the common multi-element device, with the outboard ends designed to deflect the airflow around the front tyre.

As far as I can see, the main plane, which is the forward element of the front wing, has quite a large cord section. This is OK for out and out downforce, but the airflow on the wing inevitably stalls when it gets low to the ground or mid-corner when the car rolls.

And with such a large section, the instant loss of downforce can be huge. Then, when that reattaches, the sudden increase in front downforce can play havoc with the car balance.

This usually means the driver is forced to use a balance that is inherently understeery just to be able to cope with the inconsistency that this style of wing will produce. Kimi Raikkonen has always liked cars with a tendency for understeer, so perhaps this suits him.

On the top corner of the nose-to-chassis interface, there are a couple of small horizontal fins. These will help with realigning the airflow as it tries to spill over the corner of this intersection.

FRONT SUSPENSION

This is the common double wishbone and steering trackrod concept. The inboard torsion bar, damper unit, third spring and anything else are all driven by a pushrod.

Ferrari was the team that drew the FIA's attention to what it believed to be suspension elements that were controlling the aerodynamic platform of some other teams' cars, so it wanted a clarification on what was acceptable within the regulations.

It is still waiting for a proper answer, but, obviously all teams believe their own designs are squeaky clean. Only time will tell, and there isn't much of that left before the first race.

SIDEPOD/UNDERFLOOR LEADING EDGE

This is the area Ferrari seems to have got most excited about. The 2017 regulations allow a lot more scope for clever details. Again, being clever is one thing, but that must translate into decreased lap time.

With the leading edge of the sidepod as far rearward as possible, Ferrari has been able to fit a large bargeboard, which can be seen from the front-on views. At the bottom of it is a delta-wing section going from the front of the bargeboard all the way to the outer corner of the sidepod vertical turning vane. Behind that is also a smaller, horizontal delta-shaped turning vane.

These components are to optimise and realign the airflow going into the underfloor and, in Ferrari's case, the hugely undercut sidepod leading edge.

The undercut connects to the Coke bottle area and, in turn, the low-pressure area at the back of the car. If it all works together and you can get the low-pressure area behind the car to pull airflow through the Coke bottle via the undercut sidepods - around the bargeboards and from underneath the raised front of the chassis - it means the front wing will work better.

The bargeboards and this delta-wing will work better and the undercut in the sidepods will produce downforce. So, it's a plus-plus-plus on downforce. In the end, there's also a drag reduction effect achieved by filling up that void behind the car that it is usually pulling along.

If this area works on the Ferrari, then the others could be in trouble. If not, then a lot of time and effort will have been spent achieving nothing. But I think it might just have been worth a shot.

HEADREST/ENGINE COVER

The headrest area is fairly conventional for Ferrari. It hasn't gone way out whacky with it like Sauber or some of the other teams.

The engine cover has the ugly shark fin plus the T-wing on its upper trailing edge that Mercedes tested on Thursday, but the world champion team mounted the extra wing on its own strut.

COKE BOTTLE

In line with the hugely undercut sidepods, the Coke bottle area is as open as any. This will be necessary if it is going to have any chance of the sidepod undercut working and to get the maximum airflow through this area to help the rear wing and diffuser performance.

DIFFUSER/REAR WING

We must wait for the first test at Barcelona, which I will be attending, before I can voice an opinion on diffuser design, as everyone is keeping their solutions under wraps until the last minute.

The rear wing has what is now the standard angled trailing edge to the endplates. Also, as it's a bolt-on device, it will be changed to suit different circuit requirements.

Barcelona will allow us to compare who is heading in what direction. It's a reasonably high downforce circuit, so everyone will at least be trying to achieve the same sort of downforce levels and with that drag levels, which will allow us to check out top speeds.

Will Ferrari's SF70H be enough to take the competition to Mercedes? If not, heads will definitely roll at Maranello... again.

But I believe with this design it has got a chance and, as I said above, if it does the others will struggle to copy it quickly.

We can only hope so, as we all want to see close racing with different teams winning races.