Aston Martin and Ferrari have brought suitable revisions to their respective Formula 1 machines in time for this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, along with championship leaders Red Bull.
The Aston Martin AMR24 boasts a plethora of changes as the Silverstone-based squad seeks to elevate itself beyond that of the fifth-fastest team.
Changes have been made at the front and rear as well as to the floor, including a revised front wing and nose, changes to the floor body, fences and edge plus a modified rear diffuser.
In addition, changes have been made to the engine cover to broaden the team’s cooling options and changes have been made to the read suspension external fairings and rear corner to improve airflow around the rear wheels.
Despite it being a large set of revisions, Fernando Alonso remained coy on Aston Martin’s prospects this weekend with the updated AMR24.
“I think it’s going to be a good step,” he said on Thursday.
“It was a good step in Bahrain. It was a good step in Jeddah, in Australia. And in Japan. And a little bit in Miami.
“So basically, every race we brought new parts this year. It’s no different here in Imola. If it’s going to be more lap time than other upgrades remains to be seen.”
The much-talked-about Ferrari upgrade package is also here in time to wow the Tifosi at the Italian marque’s home race.
Ferrari has introduced minor updates to the front and rear wing, in a bid to improve the overall efficiency of both components.
In addition, Ferrari has introduced a new P-shape sidepod inlet, along with a new cockpit device alongside the halo to improve airflow over the car.
To work in tandem with the bodywork changes, Ferrari has also sought to revise the floor edge and diffuser, to both improve aerodynamic efficiency and increase load.
As a result of all these changes, Ferrari has also reprofiled the rear-top wishbone fairing on the rear suspension, to hopefully capitalise on the increased aerodynamic load generated by the raft of upgrades.
After running in the simulator, Charles Lecelrc said “Now it’s all to be seen whether in reality, we find the gains that we have seen on the simulator, which I hope we do.”
Not to be outdone by the competition, current F1 pacesetters Red Bull seek to stretch the advantage out front with a host of revisions to the RB20.
The Milton Keynes-based squad has brought a new front wing to generate more load and has revised the fairings on the nosebox to compensate for the changes.
As well as this, Red Bull has repositioned the shedding edges of the forward floor edge wing and has slightly lowered the upper surface of the floor to increase aerodynamic load.
Red Bull has also sought to improve rear brake cooling with revisions to the rear wheel bodywork on the RB20.
Despite being beaten by McLaren and Lando Norris in Miami, Max Verstappen was adamant that the RB20 revisions are just part of the original plan of updates throughout the year.
“It’s not like one team comes with upgrades and we’re like, oh, we need to put something together,” he said. “It’s literally already in the pipeline.
“We are happy with it, but of course, naturally you have to keep on pushing, because the teams behind us, they are definitely catching up.
McLaren meanwhile, after introducing a large upgrade package with great success last time out, has just made circuit-specific changes to its car this weekend with a higher drag specification to the rear wing.
Mercedes, Williams, Alpine and Sauber have all made changes to floor elements on their respective machines whilst Haas has made changes to the front wing, rear suspension and rear corner on its car.
