Nine of the 10 Formula 1 teams have brought upgrades to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with Ferrari and Aston Martin introducing significant new packages.
Ferrari first ran its upgrade during a filming day at Fiorano but will now put it to the test at Imola, with the package involving a new front wing, sidepod inlet similar to the Red Bull solution, engine cover, floor edge, diffuser, rear wing and rear suspension. Ferrari’s senior performance engineer Jock Clear says the similarities to the Red Bull direction of development in some areas are natural the longer regulations are stable.
“The physics of airflow is the same for all teams,” Clear said. “So if you give teams any time, if you continually develop cars they will generally evolve to a very similar solution because we’re not working with different physics.
“So it’s probably not a coincidence, it’s a fact that when we’re developing cars which are nowadays obviously relatively tight in terms of regulation — there’s a lot less freedom than there used to be, so you’re going down a much narrower path than you were 15, 20 years ago — and if you’re on a narrow path people are going to arrive at very similar solutions.”
Ferrari is not alone in bringing major new parts to the first European round of the season, though, with Aston Martin submitting the longest list of parts. The Aston upgrade includes the front wing, nose, floor body, floor fences, floor edge, diffuser, engine cover, rear suspension and rear corner. Fernando Alonso is running the update in FP1, before both cars use it in FP2.
Red Bull has what it describes as a relatively modest update, with a new front wing, nose, floor body, floor edge and rear corner, while Mercedes similarly has an updated floor alongside front corner, rear wing and beam wing developments that are described as circuit-specific.
McLaren’s new parts — a rear wing and beam wing — are also listed as circuit-specific, while Alpine has added a small extra floor stay in front of the rear wheels that it is testing on one car on Friday, to analyze its impact on floor deflection at high speed.
There are floor tweaks at Stake, where the fences have been extended, and Williams which has made an overall reduction in weight to improve performance, while Haas has an updated front wing endplate, rear suspension and rear corner.