Ferrari says that an "extreme" solution to its rear suspension design has allowed it to stick with the pushrod setup for this year's F150.
Before the launch of the team's 2011 challenger, many were expecting Ferrari to opt for the Red Bull Racing-led route of a pullrod suspension at the rear – which theoretically can allow for better aerodynamic packaging. However, Ferrari's 2011 challenger has stuck with the more traditional pushrod layout, which can have some advantages in terms of component placement and produces different performance characteristics.
The team's chief designer, Nikolas Tombazis, reckons that Ferrari has been able to keep all the benefits of the push-rod layout without suffering any drawbacks in terms of the aerodynamic layout at the rear of the car.
"We evaluated different suspension configurations, and also pull-rod suspension like the one Red Bull introduced," he explained at the launch. "There are different possibilities – one is for aero volumes and we have found a way, which is not so visible on the car right now, to reduce the volume of the push rod suspension in an extreme way.
"That means we could reduce the rear volume, so our version is far more compact compared to the previous ones. We believe we have reached a similar level of packaging to the other ones."