F1 news: F1 Upgrades: Subtle changes for Canada

The F1 field lands in Canada with a number of subtle revisions for seven of the 10 teams. Image: Batchelor / XPB Images

With a number of big stops and few fast, or long corners, the focus is on breaking and straight-line efficiency in Canada.

That has seen teams bring a mixture of braking elements and rear wing elements for the most part, though Mercedes has a new front suspension and Lewis Hamilton the front wing he missed out on in Monaco.

Red Bull Racing

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Rear Wing	Performance -Local Load	Re-profiled rear wing flap across the span	Optimising the flap geometry in an interation from the previous design to extracxt locally more load whilst maintaining adequate flow stability for all the conditions encountered.
Front Corner	Reliability	a larger front brake cooling exit duct	The brake energy for the Montreal circuit is high enough to necessitate an enlarged exit duct from the front wheel bodywork, moving both inboard and upwards.

Mercedes

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Front Suspension	Performance -Flow Conditioning	Realignment of track rod and lower wishbone forward leg.	Realigning both the track rod and the lower wishbone forward leg to the local onset flow from the front wing reduces boundary layer losses and hence improves the flow to the floor.
Front Corner	Circuit specific -Cooling Range	Increased inlet size.	Increasing the brake duct inlet size, increases mass flow to the disc, which in turn increases heat rejection from the disc to the air.

Aston Martin

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Beam Wing	Performance – Local Load	Twist distribution is revised with lower tips.	The spanwise loading of the beam wing is modified from the revised twist dirtibution which increases the load generated, particularly near the tips.

Williams

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Front Suspension	Performance -Mechanical Setup	A shorter steering arm is available for this event.	This changes the ratio between steering wheel angle and road wheel angle and affects the drivers’ ability to control of the car.
Rear Suspension	Performance -Mechanical Setup	A new rear pullrod is availale. Geometrically it is unchanged other than it provides a larger range of ride height adjustment. The construction is updated to provide a weight saving benefit.	The new pullrod design simply brings the car closer to the legal weight limit. It also allows the ride height to be adjusted within a larger range without the need to physically swap the pullrod component.

RB

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Rear Wing	Performance -Local Load	The camber & incidence of the upper wing profiles is an evolution of the previous design.	The profile redesign provides more efficient downforce generation than the previous wing, whilst retaining the same range of drag suitable for high-speed circuits.
Front Wing	Circuit specific -Balance Range	Shorter chord and reduced incidence compared to previous flap.	This smaller front flap reduces the amount of overall load generated by the front wing assembly, in order to balance the low drag rear wings expected to be used at this circuit.

Sauber

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Rear Wing	Circuit specific -Drag Range	Redesigned main plane and flap	The new profile of the rear wing, with a reduced flap and redesigned main plane, fine-tune our aerodynamic profile for the low-drag requirements of the Canadian GP.
Beam Wing	Circuit specific -Drag Range	Redesigned beam wing profile	Together with the main rear wing update, this reprofiled beam wing improves the aerodynamic performance in the situations expected to be encountered in Montreal.

Haas

Updated component	Primary reason for update	Geometric differences compared to previous version	Brief description on how the update works
Front Wing	Circuit specific -Balance Range	Less cambered Front Wing Flap without IB hook	Due to potential low front balance requirements a revised Front Wing Flap is available: the reduced camber lowers the front load and increase effieciency of the FW itself.