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Piola: The key differences between Ferrari's 2019 and 2020 F1 cars

Ferrari was keen to play up the "extreme" concepts it adopted in the development of its 2020 Formula 1 car, suggesting the SF1000 is a radical departure from its predecessor. But how different are the two designs?

Using the Ferrari SF90 that scored three victories in 2019 as a yardstick, with Giorgio Piola's latest sketches of the new car overlaid, we examine the changes from one machine to the other.

1. The nose utilises a similar cape solution to the design introduced by Ferrari for the Singapore Grand Prix last season, with changes made to the shape of the nose tip in order to optimise its performance

2. The turning vanes have been brought forward and are more complex than last year, with seven elements now hung beneath the nose and chassis

3. Ferrari's wheels have been redesigned with partner OZ and feature longer spokes due to the central hub being reduced in diameter. This will allow more air to pass through the brake duct assembly and out through the wheel face, a technique preferred by others last season given the prohibition of the blown-axle solution

4. The bargeboards have been carefully redesigned to maximise flow to the sidepods and the inlets behind, with the furthest forward section divided into three and made even taller than last year. A twin boomerang solution has also been deployed, with a slimmer one mounted at the front end of the assembly and a larger one at the rear

5. The innovative sidepod solution introduced in 2017, which placed the side-impact structure in a lower and more forward position, has been retained but improved upon. Ferrari has taken inspiration from Red Bull in this regard, with two winged sections above and ahead of the main cooling inlet allowing it to be much smaller, while also serving their own aerodynamic purposes. These changes have allowed for a more aerodynamically beneficial mirror design, with both stalks serving as flow conditioning devices as well as supports for the actual mirror

6. The airbox retains its narrow, trapezoidal shape, a feature that's enabled designers to install 'horns' either side. These serve as conditioners that should improve flow to the rear wing. This is not a new solution, just one that has been reinterpreted for the prevailing regulations. McLaren used a similar design back in 2005, something that other teams duly copied

7. The engine cover is dramatically slimmer and carries a much lower line thanks to work done by the powertrain department to repackage the power unit and ancillaries. This extends to the sidepods, too, where we can see just how much tighter the packaging is

8. An all-new gearbox, which has the same volume but is much narrower, permits much narrower bodywork at the rear of the car, improving flow into the coke bottle region

9. The T-wing is not a dramatically revised design, but does feature some novelties compared with the SF90. The double swan-neck rear-wing supports have been retained, as has the single-element wastegate pipework - though Ferrari could switch to a double-wastegate arrangement at a later date following experiments at the tail end of 2019

10. The rear-wing endplate has been optimised for 2020, with care taken over the number and design of the strakes placed on the wider section. As usual, we'd expect to see a number of rear wing configurations throughout the season in order to cater for the demands of the specific circuit visited

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