Tech F1i: McLaren leads teams’ upgrades in Miami

The Miami Grand Prix has become since its inception a pivotal point for teams to introduce significant upgrades to their cars.

The event’s strategic timing allows teams to analyze performance data from the opening races and address weaknesses identified throughout the initial part of the championship.

As a result, the Miami weekend often witnesses a flurry of developments aimed at boosting performance and potentially shaking up the competitive order.

This year’s edition is no exception, with McLaren leading the field with its first major upgrade package of 2024 for its MCL38 contender.

Overall, team papaya has listed ten component changes on its car, starting with a completely revised front wing, new front suspension geometry, revised front and rear brake ducts and winglets and a new floor body, all of which are destined to improve flow condition and load from front to back.

These changes are complemented by a revised sidepod inlet, new bodywork and engine cover, an updated louvre range, updated rear suspension and finally, an offloaded circuit specific beam wing.

Only Lando Norris has the full range of listed upgrades on his MCL38, with teammate Oscar Piastri benefiting from approximately half the changes.

Over at Red Bull, the team’s engineers have applied a minor tweak to the Rb20’s floor edge, not for aero reasons but rather to save weight.

• Read also: Mercedes seeks answers after falling short in Sprint quali

Mercedes is still playing catch-up with its rivals in terms of the aero development of its W15 car. In Miami, the Brackley squad, which is in dire need of a solid dose of consistency, fast-tracked a new floor that sees changes to floor roof volume and edge detail in a bid to generate more load.

The team’s silver arrow also features more cooling louvres to cope with Miami’s demands, a reduced front wing chord modified to counter balance a smaller circuit-specific rear wing, and a small tweak to the W15’s front suspension.

Aston Martin rolled out a slightly changed AMR24 with a collection of circuit specific changes to the car’s front wing, coke/engine cover, rear wing and beam wing, while the team has also added a driver cooling inlet to the top of the legbox to provide a colling airflox over the driver.

Visa CashApp RB has updated the floor body and diffuser on its VCARB 01to generate more local load.

At Williams, the British outfit’s FW46 features a modified front wing that includes a new option to trim the trailing edge of the rearward element to reduce the local load.

Haas has upgraded the floor body on its VF-24, creating a more aggressive diffuser expansion with the help of a small Gurney-flap on the trailing edge that increases floor extraction and results overall in more downforce.

Finally, Sauber is running this weekend with modified circuit-specific front and rear wings on its C44 charger characterized by their lower profile adapted to the low-drag environment.

While Alpine has not implemented any component changes on its A524, it’s worth noting that the French outfit’s car is now finally running at Formula 1’s minimum weight limit.

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