Six teams filed car presentation updates for this weekend’s Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, according to FIA documentation. Four teams, Williams, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, Aston Martin and Haas, brought nothing new, while Audi also submitted no changes.
It’s a new circuit for everyone on the grid, and that’s directing how teams are approaching this weekend as much as the parts they’ve brought.
Charles Leclerc, who managed only a handful of laps around the venue before this week, expects a track that rewards qualifying pace but offers little in the way of overtaking come Sunday, and said Ferrari’s practice priorities will shift accordingly.
Mercedes: Three-part drag reduction for Madrid
Mercedes filed the weekend’s most extensive update, and it’s entirely circuit-specific. The team has reduced the span of the central winglet mounted above the rear wing flap, a change designed to shed downforce and drag at a ratio suited to Madrid’s characteristics. That’s paired with an additional winglet behind the exhaust tailpipe, increasing exhaust flow turning to generate load and drag at the same Madrid-appropriate ratio.
The third change is a reprofiled front lip on the front drum, intended to improve flow attachment through steering inputs and, in turn, clean up airflow to the rear of the car. This upgrade is most likely a permanent performance gain over a track-specific tweak.
McLaren: Rear wing update
McLaren has brought one update to the Madring, adding elements to the rear wing to improve flow conditioning onto the mainplane and flap elements, where they filed it as a performance change under flow conditioning rather than load generation.
Red Bull: More reliability upgrades
Following a slew of reliability upgrades at Monza, Red Bull made two more updates under reliability over performance. The rear wheel bodywork assembly continues work started at Monza, with a more robust gaitor now carrying winglets downstream of the suspension fairings. With the stated aim is to restore load lost in earlier races while keeping the wheel bodywork sealed.
The second change addresses the floor bib, where the laminate and shape have been altered to reduce local strain and limit deterioration of the structure and aerodynamic surfaces under deflection.
Worth remembering that “reliability” is the reason Red Bull gave the FIA, but that’s not necessarily the full picture; teams don’t always volunteer the performance upside of a fix framed as a durability measure.
Cadillac: Rear wing and diffuser gains
Cadillac’s update centres on load generation. The team has reintroduced a revised trailing-edge winglet on the rear wing flap, aimed at generating more rear load while improving aerodynamic stability across a range of operating conditions. A small vertical turning vane has also been added to the inner trailing edge of the outboard diffuser sidewall, improving performance in the outer floor channels and adding rear load.
Ferrari: Small suspension tweak
Following a massive shunt in Monza with Leclerc, Ferrari’s update is modest at best: a reprofiled fairing on the rear top wishbone’s rearward leg, adjusting incidence and spanwise loading distribution for what the team describes as a local load benefit.
Alpine: Floorboard addition
Alpine has added an element to the forward floorboard, optimised to improve local pressure distribution and flow management for efficient local downforce, again a local rather than a wholesale change.
No Changes
The following teams brought no upgrades to Madrid: Williamsms, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, Aston Martin, Haas and Audi.
Though it should be noted that Haas brought a massive upgrade with them to Monza, which is most likely as to why they brought no upgrades to the Madring.
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