Learn from F1 Coffee Corner - Terry Widdows - our technical correspondent about all things tech and car upgrades during each Formula 1 weekend!
Welcome to Austria and the second leg of the triple header!
With the second race of this triple header being a sprint weekend - as we suspected - a lot of the teams had no updates to their cars. Even then, the ones that did made minimal changes to the cars from Barcelona. Five teams announced zero changes and the others only announced slight tweaks to enhance previous updates...
Although slightly abridged - here are your Austria updates.
Mercedes have brought with them a new lower beam wing which has a reduced camber. This is designed to reduce the load specifically on the floor. By making this change, the aim is to produce less downforce and drag - increasing the performance on a track where speed is crucial. This is the latest in what appears to be a series of 'drip approach' Mercedes updates to the W15... adding a part and understanding it before bringing the next one rather than make wholesale changes like some of the teams.
In a rather unusual update - considering the ambient temperatures in Austria - Ferrari have brought new cooling louvres. Of course we have to remember Carlos Sainz' Ferrari catching fire at this track... but even then. They are listed as track specific and have been introduced in anticipation of possible high ambient temperatures over the weekend. The update is an extra louvre option that will of course help with cooling but will hinder the aerodynamic efficiency of the SF-24 as this louvres produce extra drag when they are fitted.
The team from Woking introduced a double update to the front of the McLaren. McLaren decided to run FP1 as a straight test - with Oscar having the new front wing and Lando having the old one for comparison. The new front wing has got a slight change in geometry which has been introduced to change the flow to the other new update which is the front suspension. These two are designed to work in tandem together to improve the flow of air resulting in improved aerodynamic load.
In a bid to understand the substantial updates that were brought in Barcelona VCARB have made a slight change to the rear corner of the car. These winglets have been changed slightly on the rear drum to actually generate more load and control the flow of air - especially in that diffuser area. This is a small update in relation to the data from Barcelona, where the team had that substantial package to extract maximum gains.
The only other update was to the rear beam wing on the Stake F1 team car which is similar to the Mercedes one with all of the other teams seeking to use current parts for this weekend.
I will be back with all of the updates for Silverstone next week as the development race is really starting to heat up now... The gap at the top is closing and the midfield battle is ever so close.
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