F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Tech take: A rundown of the teams' updates for Spa

The Belgian Grand Prix is the final race weekend before F1's well-deserved summer break, and save for Haas, all teams are signing off with updates cars at Spa.

The period also sees each outfit progressively switching its resources to their 2024 designs which given the stability of the rules will be evolutions of their current machines.

But development programmes continue to unfold as any positive element that appears on a car this year will find its way onto next season's contender.

Mercedes is following that approach perhaps more than any other team as it tirelessly works to improve the performance of its W14.

In Belgium, the Brackley squad unveiled another change to the profile of its car's sidepods which appears to blend design styles previously exploited by Red Bull and Ferrari.

©l'AutoJournal/F1i

The W14 now features taller sidepod inlets destines to improve the air flow to the radiators, thus improving engine cooling. Mercedes hopes to also enhance the air flow to the rear wing thanks to a reprofiled coke/engine cover camber (red arrow).

But small changes to the floor body are also expected to boost the flow to the car's diffuser (green arrow). Finally, Mercedes has mounted a lower downforce rear wing on Lewis Hamilton's car better suited for Spa's low drag environment.

McLaren has paused its main three-stage upgrade programme initiated in Austria as there has been a delay in the production of certain elements. Nevertheless, team papaya's MCL60 was rolled out in Spa with a modified rear wing, rear wing endplate and beam wing, all of which aim to achieve a reduction of aero drag and load.

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Over at Red Bull, the team's all-conquering RB19 features a reduced cooling exitarea ahead of the top wishbones in accordance with Spa's cooler working conditions.

Ferrari's only upgrade in Belgium is a lower circuit specific downforce rear wing.

Aston Martin is struggling to recover the level of performance it enjoyed just a few races ago. In Spa, the team's AMR23 features a minor change to the floor edge of its car as well as a circuit-specific rear wing and beam wing.

Alpine is pinning its hopes this weekend on a new floor mounted on its A523 that features revised forward fences, canoe ramps and a smoother diffuser wall cut out profile. The team is also using at Spa a reduced aero load front wing to suit the track's lower downforce levels.

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All of Alfa Romeo's updates are circuit specific, and they include reprofiled wing flaps on the C43's front wing, a reduced profile rear wing and beam wing.

Finally, AlphaTauri has made adjustments to its rear wing tips to increase the size of its cut out, which delivers an efficient increase in local load of the upper wing assembly by increasing the tip loading.

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Michael Delaney

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