Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine are the only teams not to bring small upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix as limited new parts have been introduced in Montreal.
Hosting the race between a run of European rounds means there is less benefit to an upgrade package at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with teams able to push development later to take to Barcelona at the start of a tripleheader of races in two weeks’ time. That means three teams have not brought any new parts at all, while the most updated components for any single team is two.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Red Bull has a new rear wing design that increases local load, while it also has developed a larger front brake duct exit for cooling reasons, with braking demands heavy in Canada.
Mercedes has similarly focused on its front brake ducts — although the inlet has been enlarged — while there is also a realignment of the front suspension that improves airflow to the floor for a performance gain.
Aston Martin has a new beam wing, while Williams has updated suspension on both the front and rear of the car. A shorter steering arm has an impact on driver inputs, while a new pullrod rear suspension design offers a wider range of ride heights and provides increased performance through a weight saving.
A new rear wing at RB is designed to offer more efficient downforce at a track where long straights put an emphasis on reducing drag, but that has required a front wing tweak in conjunction with the upgrade in order to keep the car balanced.
A similar approach has been taken by Stake Sauber — where there is the updated rear wing and beam wing for low-downforce setups — and Haas that has an evolution of its front wing to help balance the car when a lower-downforce configuration of rear wing is used.