Mercedes and Red Bull lead the list of teams bringing upgrades for this weekend’s Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with an emphasis on suspension changes.
With the European leg of the F1 season getting underway, teams have brought a raft of tweaks to their cars for Imola, with the German marque leading the way.
A new front suspension, via a reprofiling of its fairings, in the hope it will bring an improved flow to the rear of the W16.
This will work in tandem with new elements to its front wing, which is hopes will achieve a similar effect.
Team boss Toto Wolff, who will not be present this weekend, confirmed the upgrades’ arrival earlier this week, saying the personnel back at its Brackley base “have been working hard” to develop them.
Red Bull bring aero tweaks to Imola but ‘don’t expect’ McLaren gap to shorten
Red Bull has brought revisions to its radiator duct and sidepod, as well as tweaks rear suspension and rear corner to improve aerondymic flow.
Max Verstappen believes the changes will see the Milton Keynes-based squad improve on-track, but is realistic about its prospects of catching runaway leaders McLaren.
“A little bit,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week when asked if he will see improvement. “But we have already had a few races with some updates, so this is a little step forward.
“Hopefully we’ll find a bit more performance in the car. But I don’t expect to suddenly close the gap to McLaren.”
Ferrari bring only minor changes after rear suspension denial
Imola is Ferrari’s first home race of the year, and will see very little in changes from the team, bringing minor alterations to improve local load and drag, which covers the likelihood of lower grip, a possibility on the Imola circuit.
Its rear suspension has been one of the key issues for the team so far this year, a lack of rigidity on which has seen Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton struggle.
Ahead of the weekend, Hamilton quashed rumours that team were bringing an immedate change to it for this weekend, indicating it will wait until after the Spanish Grand Prix, where new directives on flexi-wings will be introduced, before it makes any bigger changes.
“As I said, between now and [Spain], we will try to unlock some performances that we have not been able to exploit,” he said.
“We are following our plan. We hope to be able to get at least something more than in the last race. In Spain, everyone will have to fit a different front wing. It will be interesting to see how it will affect the grid, we won’t know until we are there.”
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