Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The 2024 F1 season may be winding down but the developmental fight rages on in Austin
AUSTIN — The 2024 Formula 1 season may be drawing to a close, but the ongoing development battle shows no signs of slowing down.
On Friday all ten F1 teams were required to produce their list of upgrades for the United States Grand Prix and several teams identified substantial upgrades to their 2024 challengers. Among them? Mercedes, and Constructors’ Championship hopefuls McLaren.
But they were not alone, as Aston Martin, Sauber, and Haas also identified significant upgrades to their challengers.
Over at Sauber, the team introduced new elements to the front wing, rear corner, and both the front and rear suspension. The biggest change might come to the front wing, which the team indicated was completely updated. According to the team’s Car Presentation Submission, “[t]he updated geometries aim to improve the front tyre flow structures. This has a positive effect to the flow field further downstream on the car, improving both overall downforce of the car and the aero characteristics.”
Sauber is still seeking their first points of the 2024 season. Earlier this week driver Valtteri Bottas told SB Nation in an exclusive discussion that the upgrades will hopefully help the team’s performance. “I feel good that we have some new bits in the car for this weekend which hopefully will help the performance, and really hoping that we can perform better than what we’ve done in the recent events,” said Bottas earlier this week.
At Haas, the American-based team introduced changes to the floor, the rear corner, the engine cover, and the cooling louvers. However, the most intriguing change to the VF-24 might be the shape of the sidepod inlet. Haas altered the “undercut” to the sidepod, making it deeper, to improve airflow. According to the team, “increasing the undercut under the sidepod inlet favours clean air flow towards the rear of the car. Combined with the revised floor this allows a more balanced performance increase across the car.”
You can see the new sidepod inlet here:
Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, on Thursday driver Nico Hülkenberg expressed optimism that the upgrades will work for Haas, as they have throughout most of the 2024 F1 season.
But the two teams on everyone’s mind in the paddock are Mercedes and McLaren. During his Thursday media availability, George Russell noted that with the three-week gap, Mercedes had time to “assess the car as a whole,” and he believes this upgrade could bring them back into the fight, particularly in qualifying. Mercedes altered the front wing, the front suspension, the floor edge and fences, the sidepod, and the engine cover, on the W14.
The change to the front wing includes a “change in flap twist distribution, which the team notes “reduces front wing wake which improves flow to the rear of the car and rear downforce.”
Then there are the changes at McLaren, the Championship leader. McLaren brought changes to the front wing, the front and rear corners, the front suspension, and the beam wing.
The upgrades many are interested in are the upgrades to the front wing and suspension. McLaren described the changes to the front wing as a “new front wing geometry,” stating that “[t]he new front wing geometry improves flow conditioning in conjunction with the updated front suspension geometry throughout various conditions resulting in improved aerodynamic load.”
The updated front suspension builds off those changes, with McLaren noting that “The new front suspension is designed around the new front wing geometry aimed at maximising the improved flow characteristics introduced with it.”
Here is a look at the upgraded McLaren, with the Google Chrome paint scheme the team is using in Austin:
Will these upgrades bear fruit? That question will start being answered with the weekend’s single practice session, which gets underway in mere moments.
