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Ferrari debuted in Formula One testing in Barcelona with a new rim design, inspired by Mercedes' controversial rear wheel set last season.
The new solution was tested during the second day of testing and the new rim has several raised sections to control the temperatures inside the wheel.
These evacuate the heat of the tire, thus ensuring a relatively even distribution of heat within the rubber, thus reducing the level of thermal degradation of the rear.
The scalloped Mercedes rims made their first appearance at the Belgian Grand Prix last year, after the team found several problems with its tire management capabilities during the season.
They stayed on the car for the remainder of 2018, helping the team to six wins.
Subsequently, Ferrari tested similar wheels to help dissipate some of the heat from the rear tires in its own efforts to manage the level of wear and blistering felt at high temperatures.
Compared to the design of Mercedes, Ferrari offers more raised sections to develop the desired heat management effect.
McLaren also launched last week with a similar wheel design, coated with black thermal paint to further minimize heat transfer to the tires.
It is unclear whether the wheels extend to the same extremes as last season's Mercedes configuration, which featured a wheel spacer to minimize brake temperature transfer.
The design also included a number of small holes leading from the spacer to the rim, transferring the outside air to cool the wheel.
Aerodynamic tests Wednesday morning
The third day of racing began with several teams using aerodynamic sensors to analyze their designs in the real world.
These are used to correlate the channel data with the data originally developed by the wind turbine and CFD test.
Mercedes and Red Bull used the Pitot tube network "bird cage" – a device commonly used in official training sessions – to determine the flow field pressures around certain components.
This helps to ensure that the airflow behaves as expected and the teams to modify the simulations in case of disparity.
Ferrari was also monitoring the pressure and fixing large tower sensors on the rear wing while examining the areas immediately around this part of the car to determine the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft. 39; rear.
Toro Rosso also used a number of sensors, this time around the nose end plates and the front fender, to monitor the degree of flexion of the front fender for s & # 39; ensure that the aerodynamic components behave as expected.
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