F1 News: Performance Upgrades Teams brought to British GP

Many teams brought performance upgrades this weekend for the 2024 British GP at Silverstone.  Below is the list of upgrades by team. The McLaren upgrades are working well as their cars were 1st and 3rd in opening practice.

ORACLE RED BULL RACING

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade works

1

Floor Body

Performance – Flow Conditioning

Subtle re-profiling of the surface above and behind the lower SIS tube

Optimizing the upper floor surface further based upon research and comparison with full scale results to get more energy thus pressure to the floor edge wing.

2

Floor Edge

Performance – Local Load

Minor re-profiling of the edge wing with attendant detail

Given higher pressure upstream, the edge wing detail has been subtly changed to add more camber deriving more load whilst respecting the necessity for flow stability.

New Red Bull Floor Edge
New Red Bull Floor Edge

MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS FORMULA ONE TEAM

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade works

1

Front Wing

Circuit specific – Balance Range

Trimmed front wing flap

Trimmed/ smaller chord flap, reduces front wing load to achieve sensible car balance if low downforce rear wing is chosen to run.

2

Rear Wing

Circuit specific – Drag Range

Reprofiled flap

Reducing local flap curvature reduces local flap load and offloads the mainplane – results in a lower downforce and lower drag upper wing.

3

Front Corner

Circuit specific – Cooling Range

Smaller front brake duct inlet and exit

Reducing the brake duct inlet and exit size reduces the mass flow feeding and cooling the brake disc and caliper.

4

Rear Corner

Performance – Local Load

Upper lip realignment

Better aligning the upper caketin lip to the local onset flow improves flow attachment through a range of conditions resulting in more local load.

New Mercedes Rear Wing
New Mercedes Rear Wing
New Mercedes Front Wing
New Mercedes Front Wing

MCLAREN FORMULA 1 TEAM

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade works

1

Rear Wing

Circuit specific – Drag Range

Lower Downforce Rear Wing

In anticipation of higher isochronal circuits, a less loaded Rear Wing assembly is introduced for this event, with the aim of reducing drag efficiently.

2

Beam Wing

Circuit specific – Drag Range

High load Beamwing

With the target to widen the operating range of the newly introduced low downforce wing, a high load Beam Wing has been designed to trade downforce and drag efficiently.

3

Beam Wing

Circuit specific – Drag Range

Mid load Beamwing

With the target to increase the operating range of the newly introduced low downforce wing, a mid load Beam Wing has been designed to trade downforce and drag efficiently.

4

Beam Wing

Circuit specific – Drag Range

Low load Beamwing

With the target to increase the operating range of the newly introduced low downforce wing, a low load Beam Wing has been designed to trade downforce and drag efficiently.

5

Coke/Engine Cover

Circuit specific – Cooling Range

Additional Cooling Exit

The new Bodywork features an additional cooling exit, allowing an increase in cooling massflow, resulting in both an increase in overall cooling capacity as well as efficiency.

 

New McLaren Rear Wing

ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO FORMULA ONE TEAM

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade work

1

Front Wing

Performance – Local Load

Modified twist distribution of the wing elements changing the front view shape.

Changing the twist distribution of the wing modifies the spanwise loading to improve the overall performance of the wing and downstream interactions.

2

Rear Corner

Performance – Local Load

The small element on the outboard face of the lip has been replaced with a twin arrangement.

The twin elements offer an improvement in alignment and downwash for improved wheel wake management increasing the load on surrounding geometry.

VISA CASH APP RB FORMULA ONE TEAM

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade works

1

Halo

Performance – Flow Conditioning

The winglet on the top of the Halo will be removed in some configurations.

The airflow around the Halo influences the downstream areas of the car including the rear wing, making removing it relevant in certain circumstances.

STAKE F1 TEAM KICK SAUBER

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade works

1

Floor Fences

Performance – Flow Conditioning

An additional, alternative trim of the floor fences

The different trim of the floor fences further optimises the flow of air in this crucial area of the car, improving the overall flow and aero efficiency of the package.

MONEYGRAM HAAS F1 TEAM

Updated component

Primary reason for upgrade

Geometric differences compared to previous version

Brief description on how the upgrade work

1

Floor Body

Performance – Local Load

Modification of the expansion with this new floor

The different expansion increases the floor suction and therefore the underfloor mass-flow, resulting in overall more load coming from the floor.

2

Floor Fences

Performance – Flow Conditioning

Alignment of the floor fences

The new floor geometry requires a different alignment of the front floor fences, as the direction of the incoming floor changes with the floor expansion.

3

Floor Edge

Performance – Local Load

The new floor body required a modification of the floor edge as well

The new floor body has a different expansion and therefore requires an adaptation of the floor edge wing, which is now more coherent with floor body and is able to extract more flow, resulting in a local load increase.

4

Sidepod Inlet

Performance – Flow Conditioning

Updated Inlet geometry, now with a longer higher lip

This geometry allows to deliver a cleaner floe to the rear end of the car, resulting in an overall performance increase.

5

Coke/Engine Cover

Performance – Flow Conditioning

The updated Inlet geometry required a minor revision of the sidepod

The new Sidepod Inlet geometry required changes that protrude quite backwards on the sidepod, which was therefore updated accordingly. The new sidepod is now able to accommodate some top cooling gills as well.

6

Mirror Stay

Performance – Flow Conditioning

The new Sidepod Inlet required a new rear stay of the mirror

The updated rear stay of the mirror has changed position and was optimized to condition the top sidepod flow in order to increase the load of the rear end of the car.

7

Rear Corner

Performance – Local Load

Different position and trim of the lower quadruplane (FIA geometry)

The new floor required to optimize the flow around the rear tires as well. The improved incoming flow on the rear corner allows an increased expansion, resulting in a higher local load