As the last quarter of the 2024 Formula 1 season begins this weekend with the United States Grand Prix, several teams including McLaren and Mercedes have brought significant development packages.
For the Woking team, currently leader of the constructors’ championship and whose driver Lando Norris is Max Verstappen’s closest rival in the drivers’ championship, this includes first of all a new front wing, accompanied by a reworked front suspension to match the new structure of the air flow that is sent downstream.
Modifications were also made to the aerodynamic parts of the brakes, again to accommodate the new wing, as well as to the size of the cooling pipes, to adapt to the requirements of the Texan circuit. The rear suspension fairing has also been modified, again for aero performance reasons, and a new cooling outlet for the rear brakes has been fitted.
Finally, the McLaren MCL38 will be equipped with its high-downforce rear wing, which will be coupled with a single-element beam wing in order to somewhat reduce the overall drag of the assembly while ensuring that the DRS effect will be sufficiently powerful . It should be noted that the team is still not introducing a new floor, while its strategy of sticking to the part installed in Miami seems to be the most profitable among the top teams.
The McLaren MCL38 being assembled in Austin.
Photo by: Andreas Beil
On the Mercedes side, we also note a new spoiler and a new front suspension, aimed at “reduce the wake of the front wing, which will improve the flow towards the rear of the car”. The body of the W15 has also been re-profiled at the level of the sidepods, with the accentuation of the gap between the prominent upper part of the air intake and the lower part further back, in order to improve the flow air for cooling the car.
On the other hand, unlike McLaren, Mercedes does have a new floor with a new edge fin and reworked partitions in order to provide more performance. This new feature will be particularly scrutinized after the failure of the floor which was brought to Spa without ever really convincing the team and its drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
At Red Bull, two aerodynamic changes should be noted with a modification of the edge fin but also the installation of sidepods specifically designed for Austin in order to improve cooling.
Note that Aston Martin is also arriving in Texas with an imposing package consisting of a new front wing, a new floor and a revised bodywork to try to increase the load produced by the AMR24. Alpine, for its part, has a new floor, revised bodywork and a new rear wing, which will only be available to Pierre Gasly this weekend.
Visa Cash App RB arrives with a new floor to try to respond to the package provided by Haas, the latter also including a new floor, accompanied by a more pronounced cutout under the sidepods and some changes related to cooling. At Stake F1, finally, a new wing and new suspension fairings will be implemented to try to get the first point for the Swiss structure this year.
With Jake Boxall-Legge
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