Was secret front wing upgrade key to Ferrari's US GP dominance?

Ferrari's dominance of the United States Grand Prix came on a weekend when it stood out from its rivals in not bringing any upgrades. Or, to be more accurate, none that it officially declared.

With closest challengers McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes all introducing developments at the Austin track, the FIA's official submission sheet that details changes showed no tweaks to the Ferrari car.

But that does not tell the true story of Ferrari's approach to the USA weekend, as there are certain tweaks teams can make that do not have to be declared.

Article 19.1c) of F1's sporting regulations, which covers what items teams have to tell the FIA about, states that this includes "all major aerodynamic and bodywork components and assemblies that have not been run at a previous Competition or TCC [test] and are intended to be run at the competition."

Indeed, after seeing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz take a 1-2 finish, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur repeated several times that just because no upgrades were declared, it did not mean the Prancing Horse did not have any.

"It is not that because we are not declaring something that we are not bringing something," he said. "We have to be clear that the upgrades are about the external shape."

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Ferrari did not elaborate on what exactly was new for Austin, but speculation has surrounded the possibility that it brought some new specification front wings.

While these externally are identical to what it first introduced in Singapore, insiders suggest Ferrari had spent some time since the last race working on optimising their construction to help exploit aero elasticity more.

In a season when having a more flexible front wing has been instrumental in better balancing a car – helping address the low-speed understeer and high-speed oversteer characteristics of the current ground effect machinery – Ferrari had perhaps been too cautious at the start of the season.

And while it privately felt that others were pushing the boundaries too much in how much flexing was going on, recent FIA clarifications that such behaviour is allowed opened the door for Maranello to go down this route itself now too.

A more optimised flexi-wing is not something that will transform a car but, in a season where the gaps between teams are so close, it is a detail that can have an impact.

Speaking about the value of a good flexi front wing after what we saw in Austin, Vasseur said: "Clearly it is not a game-changer, but we are in the situation today that every single hundredth of a second is making a difference.

"In qualifying we had two or three cars behind us by less than one-tenth, and that meant if these details or another one are down to the hundredths of a second, then we have to do it."

The new wing design that originally appeared in Singapore is an evolution of its predecessor, with many of the design features retained, albeit more deliberate in their approach.

In terms of the actual design changes to the wing, aside from the obvious flap geometry changes, the design of the spoon-shaped transition from the centre of the mainplane has been altered. This will, in turn, provide a different aerodynamic reaction from the nose assembly.

Meanwhile, the outboard section of the flaps has been redesigned where they mate with the endplate. This is in order to enhance the outwash effect being generated and alter the wake generated by the wheel and tyre assembly behind.

The new flap tips are much more roundly curved (left image, above) and the supporting metal work that had previously been employed has been cast aside, which will alter their dynamic behaviour as a consequence.

Ferrari is also undoubtedly benefiting from a wing designed with a greater ability to exploit aeroelasticity, given the FIA's clearance of solutions fielded by its rivals in recent races.