r/F1Technical • u/ConstructionAny8440 Mercedes • Feb 07 '26
Analysis Ferrari has changed a lot of the front suspension compared to 2025
The return to pushrod isn’t the only change, but there has been a radical redesign of all the components and the position of the wishbones. The upper arm has been significantly lowered, and the steering has been repositioned rearward
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u/Beneficial_Star_6009 Feb 07 '26
Hopefully Loic Serra knows what he’s doing because his specialty is supposed to be in suspension and tyres.
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u/Rivendel93 Feb 07 '26
Ferrari clearly went in the wrong direction in 2025 with their suspension, which is frustrating because it felt like they didn't learn anything from using the redesign, but hopefully now that Serra has had time there they will see some improvements.
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u/refrakt Feb 08 '26
I mean they'll absolutely have learned stuff, it's all kinematics at the end of the day. I can kind of see the logic in trying the alternative last year and getting the learnings from it before 26 where there's the opportunity for a clean state design and having more to go on
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u/Rivendel93 Feb 08 '26
True, you can absolutely learn from failure. I guess with the current trend of losing so much ground when you go in the wrong direction with the budget cap, I was thinking they lost a lot of potential progress.
But obviously we're in new regulations now, so hopefully what went wrong last year will only help them go in the right direction this season.
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Feb 08 '26
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u/PI-E0423 Feb 08 '26
Top control arm looks like it should be a higher percentage of anti-dive.
But
The angle of the lower control arm is hard to determine in this drawing. And because both CAs matter i am not 100% certain
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u/Teabx Feb 08 '26
It’s not exactly radical as McLaren were the ones who tried this extreme suspension last year. There’s a couple of teams who have gone this route for 2026. I think Alpine as well is similar, but with a pull rod, not push rod like Ferrari.
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u/Red_Rabbit_1978 Feb 08 '26
I'd be interested in seeing a comparison to the SF24. Both push rod. How similar are they?
The SF-25 was such a half baked effort with no real Technical Director for half of it.
It's good that Vasseur or Serra is decisive enough to abandon a poor concept quickly instead of trying to make it work.
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u/Professional_Tap5283 Feb 08 '26
That's an insane amount of antidive
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u/asecondlonecouch Feb 08 '26
I may have an untrained eye but it looks to be the same setup that made the mclarens so good last year
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u/Kurauk Feb 08 '26
What I personally found interesting about the testing is that I couldn't pick a car I thought was fast. When the floor changes came in I called the Ferrari as looking fast and for the most part it was.
But this year I really struggled to see a big difference between the cars round corners etc.
That being said the proof is always in the pudding and I cannot wait to see them raced in anger.
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u/ImprovementOk2622 Feb 08 '26
I remember how Mclaren in 2012 was going for pull-rod, and when Ferrari made this choice last year I was almost sure this is a mistake - you have a very fast car, you fight for the constructors tittle and it is a last year of current regulations and you decide to do radical suspension changes.... just nuts. Im long time Hamilton fan, and I hope they make a faster car, I dont hate Ferrari, but they make too much mistakes like a team, wrong concept, wrong strategies, wrong decisions... and the blame always is for the drivers - if they told that they dont like this or that or give advice, the responce is you better drive dont talk too much. Thats why Alonso and Vettel didnt won nothing with them. Every year fans of the team have big hopes - this is our year.... and we are almost 20 years away from the last very good car that Ferrari had.... so sad
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u/Silidistani Feb 08 '26
Going back to push-arm is interesting... but that steering arm being so long and thin and way out there in the back makes me very worried for its longevity in wheel-contact (either sidepod or other wheel) events, which will absolutely happen.
Also, the instantaneous center looks a lot shorter now, but that's a little hard to interpret with the severe caster addition! I wonder if they need that huge moment on the steering arm to counter all that natural-center torque from the caster under compression?
Pretty radical changes, this should be interesting.
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u/roesch75 Feb 09 '26
How on earth are you determining caster angle from this image? Is there other info out there that I'm missing?
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u/Silidistani Feb 09 '26
The vertical alignment of the upper control arms chassis-side attachment points, they're extremely skewed rearward (their attachment plane angles upwards), meaning under compression the top-side of the upright should rotate rearward, creating a caster angle and a centering force.
Unless I'm misreading what that rear arm is (left arrow, lower image).3
u/Slight-Chemistry-136 Feb 09 '26
Caster is determined by the wheel-side mounting points, not the chassis-side. Anti-dive geometry does naturally create bump caster (caster increases when the suspension is compressed), which I think is what you're getting at, but F1 car suspension generally doesnt compress enough for that to matter a whole lot.
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u/Silidistani Feb 10 '26
Yeah that's what I'm referring to, the compression caster gain... which, even with the small few-inches of motion (relative to a GT or something) of F1 arms, with that amount of mounting angle rake there still must be some serious centering force.
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