he year 2007 was the beginning of a new era
for Ferrari after the senior personnel that had
done so much toeffect a turna round in the late
1990s – team principal Jean Todt, technical
director Ross Brawn, chief designer Rory Byrne
and multiple champion Michael Schumacher–
moved on. All was not happy behind the scenes:
Todt, disgruntled that Ferrari president Luca di
Montezemolo had unilaterally decided to hireKimi
Räikkönen and shove Schumacher intoprema ture retirement,
was stepping aside to consider his options elsewhere; Brawn,
who held ambitions to be team principal but knew he would
never reach that post at Ferrari, was taking a sabbatical; and
Byrne was retiring to Thailand to set up ascuba diving school.
Brawn had preparedfor hi s departure exquisitely, though,
leaving experiencedpersonnel schooled in his methodologies.
Byrne’s long-timedeputy, Aldo Costa, took over as head of
design while Nikolas Tombazis, recently returned after a stint
at McLaren, slotted in as chief designer. John Iley, poached
from Renault in 2004, remained as head of aerodynamics.
The F2007’s predecessor, the 248, had returned Ferrari
to contention after a generally miserable 2005 but itwasn’t
quite sharp enough for Schumacher to claim an eighth world
title. Ferrari’s response was typically aggressive and, though
the F2007 seemed atfi rst to embody a familiar aerodynamic
philosophy, it was very different in detail. Some of the changes
were responses to new crash regulations and the mandate that
two different tyre compounds had to be used in each race,
but others represented a huge shift in the Scuderia’s thinking.
Chief among these was the adoption of the ‘zero-keel’ approach
to mounting the front suspension: it had become increasingly
fashionable elsewhere for the aerodynamic gains possible from
cutting bodywork under the nose, but it brought compromises
in structural stiffness and suspension geometry that Ferrari
didn’t feel ready to take onuntil now.
Zero-keel suspensionentailed two separate lower wishbones
angling slightly upwards to meetthe hi gher nose on eachside,T
NOW
THAT
WAS
A
CAR
No.88rather than attaching to a bodyworkspur below it. While
revising thedesign, Ferrari also shortenedthe upper wishbones
to lower the roll centre,mitigating theeffects of therais ed nose.
The entire crash structure was longer notonly to meet thenew
regulationsbut al so to extend thewheelbaseby 85 mm, creating
a bigger space for moresophisticated bargeb oards to manage
the turbulent front-wheel aerodynamic wake.
The sidepod inlets and turning vanes were re-profiledto
make more optimal use of the better-quality airflow from
the frontend. Behind thedrive r, the 2.4-litre V8 remained
theoretically unchanged, since engine development had been76 GP RACING JULY 2020pic to come
THE FERRARI
F2007
he year 2007 was the beginning of a new era
for Ferrari after the senior personnel that had
done so much toeffect a turna round in the late
1990s – team principal Jean Todt, technical
director Ross Brawn, chief designer Rory Byrne
and multiple champion Michael Schumacher–
moved on. All was not happy behind the scenes:
Todt, disgruntled that Ferrari president Luca di
Montezemolo had unilaterally decided to hireKimi
Räikkönen and shove Schumacher intoprema ture retirement,
was stepping aside to consider his options elsewhere; Brawn,
who held ambitions to be team principal but knew he would
never reach that post at Ferrari, was taking a sabbatical; and
Byrne was retiring to Thailand to set up ascuba diving school.
Brawn had preparedfor hi s departure exquisitely, though,
leaving experiencedpersonnel schooled in his methodologies.
Byrne’s long-timedeputy, Aldo Costa, took over as head of
design while Nikolas Tombazis, recently returned after a stint
at McLaren, slotted in as chief designer. John Iley, poached
from Renault in 2004, remained as head of aerodynamics.
The F2007’s predecessor, the 248, had returned Ferrari
to contention after a generally miserable 2005 but itwasn’t
quite sharp enough for Schumacher to claim an eighth world
title. Ferrari’s response was typically aggressive and, though
the F2007 seemed atfi rst to embody a familiar aerodynamic
philosophy, it was very different in detail. Some of the changes
were responses to new crash regulations and the mandate that
two different tyre compounds had to be used in each race,
but others represented a huge shift in the Scuderia’s thinking.
Chief among these was the adoption of the ‘zero-keel’ approach
to mounting the front suspension: it had become increasingly
fashionable elsewhere for the aerodynamic gains possible from
cutting bodywork under the nose, but it brought compromises
in structural stiffness and suspension geometry that Ferrari
didn’t feel ready to take onuntil now.
Zero-keel suspensionentailed two separate lower wishbones
angling slightly upwards to meetthe hi gher nose on eachside,T
NOW
THAT
WAS
A
CAR
No.88rather than attaching to a bodyworkspur below it. While
revising thedesign, Ferrari also shortenedthe upper wishbones
to lower the roll centre,mitigating theeffects of therais ed nose.
The entire crash structure was longer notonly to meet thenew
regulationsbut al so to extend thewheelbaseby 85 mm, creating
a bigger space for moresophisticated bargeb oards to manage
the turbulent front-wheel aerodynamic wake.
The sidepod inlets and turning vanes were re-profiledto
make more optimal use of the better-quality airflow from
the frontend. Behind thedrive r, the 2.4-litre V8 remained
theoretically unchanged, since engine development had been76 GP RACING JULY 2020THE FERRARI
F2007