Formula 1 expert Sam Collins has delved into Ferrari’s “absolutely spectacular” exhaust tailpipe, after analysing footage from the United States Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc was, of course, disqualified from the recent race at the Circuit of the Americas as his plank didn’t comply with the sport’s technical regulations, robbing him of fifth place.
However, it’s Ferrari’s exhaust tailpipes which were of particular interest to Collins in F1’s latest tech video.
High-speed phantom cameras used at the US GP picked up the SF-23 suffering from extreme vibrations through the corners, to the extent that Collins admitted that it was “something I’ve never seen on an F1 car before”.
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After watching footage of some of the other cars, Collins came to the conclusion that it was only Ferrari who were suffering from aggressive vibrations.
He wonders if this is why the Maranello-based team have introduced a different exhaust system at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, where Charles Leclerc qualified second for Sunday’s race.
Ultimately, Collins labelled the US GP footage of the Ferraris as “breathtaking”.
“I decided to take a look at both Ferraris through the same sequence of corners and to see a number of different laps to see if they did it more and more, and the results, I have to say, were breathtaking,” Collins explained in a recent F1 tech video, as quoted by Crash.net.
“All of the exhaust tailpipes in F1 are made from a type of special steel called inconel, it deals with high temperature and is quite lightweight, a very special sort of metal.
“Everybody uses it and they all sort of perform in the same way. It’s not something that you see big differences in.
“The [oscillation] comes as the tyre rides onto that kerb on the apex of the corner but at this point, the tailpipe starts going really crazy.
“Look at the shape it forms. As we go through the corner you can see that it deforms quite substantially as it starts to deflect.
“The shape of the tailpipe is no longer round, it’s more like an egg. It gets pretty extreme at the moment the car bottoms out and you can really see the difference at this point.
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“You can see that change from a circle to an egg. That is absolutely spectacular.”
Ferrari have suffered from vibrations throughout the season so far, with sparks having been seen flying off the floor of the SF-23 in Interlagos.
Whether this’ll impact them in the race will be discovered on Sunday.