Revealed: The six upgrades Mercedes have brought to F1 Bahrain Grand Prix

Mercedes upgrades
Small flicks on the front wing
The☂ flicks help focus the vorticity shed from the wing tip vorticity, improving performance over a wider range of front ride heiꦍghts.
Lifted tips on the rear wing
Offloading the tip of the wing has shed drag efficiently - this is important for Bahrain and a number of circuits in the early part of the season
Re-profiled underside of nose
Increased front wing local load and improved conditioning of the flow under the chassis and downstream - notably to the underfloor and fences.
Small floor changes
Increased forward floor load, and cleaner rear 𝓀floor edge wing vortex - wh💝ich in turns increases diffuser load.
Narrower sidepod inlet
Improved flow inter🅺nally to the radiator resulting in more efficient engine cooling; also improved flow to the rear floor edge, providing more rear downforce.
Change in front suspension height
Dropping the track rod has improved the effectiveness of the lower wishbone to turn (downwash) the flow from the front wing for 🧔the benefit of the underfloo🐷r.

Red Bull upgrades
Floor Edge
It is not a change the team chose to pursue, nor was it beneficial to✅ car performance so the resulting geometry was aimed at minimising the incurred𒈔 loss.
Front Wing
Given the opportunity to evolve the wing, more load was derived overall without incre🐷asing the downstream consequences.
Coke/Engine Cover
Given the opportunity to optimise the cooling from the data garnered in 2022, the layout has changed subtly and the topbod🌱y ex🔯it duct has changed to reduce consequences downstream on the exit.

Ferrari upgrades
Front Suspension
We have moved from a configuration with a high track rod to one with a low track rod, driven by t🌃he demands of the aerodynamics
Front Wing
The primary element is no longer attached to the nose, instead it is floa♌ting
Coke/Engine Cover

Alpine upgrades
Front Wing
Increase local load while delivering c🍃leaner air to the back of the car thus bringing more overall aero performance t🌄o benefit lap-time
Nose
Improve flow structures to the back ofꦇ the car and, as per above, brings more overall performance
Front Suspension
Improve flow structures to the b🌊ack of the car to complement the aforement🐬ioned supporting areas to bring overall performance
Front Corner
Aero development to increase local load as well as an improvement to the front brake cooling configurati𒀰on
Floor Body
A key area of development in 2❀022. Now a completely new floor design, as well as floor fences, underlying floor profile, floor edge and diffuser to improve local load.
Coke/Engine Cover
Completely n🦄ew bodywork shape and cooling exit positions to ꧒improve local load and have better flow conditioning to the back of the car.
Rear Suspension
New for 𒈔2023, pushr෴od design (not pullrod) to save weight and to better optimise aero development at the rear of the car
Rear Corner
Improved suspension optimisation and brake duct local load as well as brake cooling improvemen♒ts
Beam Wing
Aero optimisation of local load and drag.
Rear Wing
Aero optimisation of local load and drag.
McLaren upgrades
Front Wing
The front wing impr꧅oves the upstream flow conditions for the car increasing overall car downforce. We moved to a two-element adjustable flap which has a larger aerobalance raꩵnge
Floor Body
The floor is designed to adapt to the new regulations, add downforce to the car at a🧸ll car speeds and minimize porpoisi♓ng
Front Corner
The front brake duct is designed to provide the necessary level 🗹of brake disc and caliper cooling for high braking demand circuits, whilst minimizing the aerodynamic effect on the car.
Sidepod Inlet
Coke/Engine Cover
The bodywork is designed to improve the flow to the rear of the car and increase downforce. A new car 🌠design for 2023 has allowed us to package the sidepods in 🌺such a way as to allow for a larger undercut
Cooling Louvres
The design, location, and size of the cooling louvers can affect the aerodynamic performance ⛦at the rear of the car. The design improves car efficiency when adjusting the cooling level for higher temperature ambient conditions.
Beam Wing
The beam wing design improves efficiency and downforce at the rear of the 🐽carඣ, it has different span-wise loading to last years design
Rear Corner
The rear brake duct is designed to provide the necessary level of brake disc and caliper cooling for high 🎀b꧋raking demand circuits, whilst minimizing the aerodynamic effect on the car
Alfa Romeo upgrades
Front Suspension
The changes to the chassis and front suspension covers help improve airflow traveling down the car and into the sidepod. Thi🗹s should help increase the overall aero efficiency
Floor Body
The new floor has been designed to improve overall🥃 downforce while minimising the lossဣes caused by the rule changes.
Halo
The changes aim to reduce losses from the HALO itself whilst also managin♛g other losses created by the cockpit opening
Sidepod Inlet
The larger undercut below the cooling inlet allows more, high꧒ energy, flow to the back 🦹of the car to work with the floor edge
Coke/Engine Cover
The new bodywork is primarily to package the new central cooler and reduced sid✤e coolers. The new design improves flow to the rear of the car
Rear Corner
The rear brake duct has been tuned to work with the new floor and bodyworkꦍ concepts minimising losses and realigning to the new onset flow
Rear Suspension
The rear suspension has been tuned to work with the new f🦋loor and bodywork concepts minimising losses an✃d realigning to the new onset flow
Beam Wing
The new geometry is designed to work better with t𝄹he new engine cover central exit increasing local load and efficiency
Haas upgrades
Nose
The criteria that has been followed in the nosecone ൩shape optimization 𒆙is to improve the pressure distribution behind the Front Wing and improve the inlet air mass flow toward the front floor.
Front Wing
The improvement of the gl💛obal efficiency of the car impose a very slim volume of the components a wing is c♛omposed, in this way we can get advantage by the phenomena connected to the wheel turbulence structure.
Front Wing Endplate
The interaction of the pressure field generated by the front wing endplate zone and the wheel one, has generated a robust wake with advantages seen even at𝄹 the rear body too.
Front Suspension
Has been optimised the aerodynamic structure of the suspension legs with adva♏ntages at the correct working of the front wing and the improvement of the impact of the 🦹flow towards the front part of the floor.
Floor Fences
Our research direction has been to maximise the combination of surface 🌄contraction imposed by the regulation in this area with t༺he effect of washing out used even when regulation was allowing the bargeboard.
Floor Body
A ꦏcorrect and balanced contraction and expansion has resulted to be as one of the key rule to provide efficiency at the entire car aerodynamic package.
Front Corner
In addition to the cooling optimization a deep 🌠attention has been taken for the influence that the front corner bodywork have on the front wing tip aerodynamic and the wake generated behind the wheel.
Cooling Louvres
With several loop of simulation and correlati🌞on work the complex package composed by several elements dedicated to the heat transfer has been investigated w꧙ith the aim to improve cooling management.
Diffuser
No elements of the diffuser or its surfaces has been maintained from the 2022 car. Beam wing and ꧃diffuser trailing edge are developed together to gather the maximum expansion at the rear of the car.
Rear Suspension
The structural and kinematic constraints, oblige not to push over some limit the aerodynamic requirement at the car rearend. Nevertheless a ne🍌w lay out has been found that represent a significant step forward in the car 🍸performance respect the previous model
AlphaTauri upgrades
Nose
The narrower and more integrated nose is used to reduce the loss from the nose and inboard sections of the FW that eventually pas🧜s under the floor and hamper its performance. The sectio𒉰nal shaping is designed to enhance the pressure field created by the front suspension
Front Wing
The shorter inboard sections work in conjunction with the nose 𓂃surface to better condition the flow to the floor. The changes also place the loss from the FW in a better place in relation to the𝄹 front suspension elements than seen on AT03.
Front Suspension
The changes in angle of the suspension legs and fairings improves the onset c♔ondition of the flow to the floor. They also help to control the loss that is ejected from the wedge where the tyre makes contact with the ground. A loss we call the 'squish loss'
Front Corner
Removin꧂g the intersection with front lower wishbone exposes more of the surface of the wishbone to generate the d⛎esired pressure field to control the front tyre wake. The shaping of the brakeduct scoop itself is designed to enhance this effect whilst also improving the loss at the junctions between it and the wishbone legs in comparison to AT03
Floor Body
The underfloor profiling is designed to make best use of the vorticity generated by the floor fences and maximise the downforce generated by the floor's close proximity to the ground. The leading edge height change was done to improve performance in a specific pܫart of the ride height envelope of the car that we felt we were weak in last year. Applying the blend detail to the edge of the floor alters the base pressure that the outboard of the fence system sees helping𝄹 us improve the underfloor vorticity
Floor Edge
The vanes enhance the outwash of the floor wing💙 helping lower the pressure under the floor. They also form vortices that further improve floor loading downstream
Diffuser
The cut out allows higher quality flow from🔯 outside of the floor to enter the diffuser and r😼e-energise the flow under the floor
Sidepod Inlet
Maintaining the inlet size is important in achieving the necessary flow rate to the radiators to cool the car. The raised inlet increases the size of the 'undercut' which allows it to feed better flow to the floor edges downstream to increas🐭e their lꦿoading.
Coke/Engine Cover
The shrinking of the upper engine cover and the raising of the exit has been done to reduce local lift and improve the o💯nset flow to th✤e rear wing and lower beam wing to allow them to generate more downforce more efficiently.
Cooling Louvres
The reprofiling and repo﷽sitioning of the louvres improves the loss that exits from these apertures but also places this loss in a position at the rear of the car that is less damaging for the performance of the beam wing and rear wing. This helps to improve the efficiency of this cooling option
Rear Wing Endplate
The change better aligns the endplate but also allows increased clearance to the flow features from the rear brakeduct and winglet. As the span reduction o🅷f the beam wing is minimal it al💎lows the overall load of the rear wing assembly to increase
Williams upgrades
Nose
Front Wing
These are a combined structural and aero improvement to deliver higher quality air flow f💧urther🐠 down the car
Front Wing
These updates generate more load on the front wing and also deliver cleaner flow further dowౠn the car, including i😼nto the radiator ducts and the new sidepod undercut
Front Suspension
I🅘n combination with the revised brake ducts scoops, the suspension reduces losses and interaction with the wing wake relative to FW44.
Front Corner
The total brake duct s♔ystem offers sufficient and efficient brake cooling (disc and caliper) and also improves the tyre wake control and works in 🍸conjunction with the suspension link updates to produce some additional local load and improved flow down the car
Coke/Engine Cover
The more aggressive undercut works in conjunction with the entire rearward system on the car, including the new floor edge details, diffuser and outboard brake duct winglet cascade. The undercut delivers higher energy flow to these regions for improved load. The engine cover shape better accommodates the cooling louvre options so that we lose less aero performance as we increas🃏e the cooling flow through the radiator system
Rear Wing
The upper elements produce more load and work in conjunction with the revised beam wing arrangement. The pylon geometry is better for local flow control and provides the required stiffness to hold the upper elements in placᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe
Beam Wing
These profiles work with the updated rear wing elements described above. The produce additional load locally and also improve the re🐼ar wing - diffuser system to further improve the load
Halo
These features better condition the flow coming over and round the cockpit before it feeds the engine cover upper surface and the rear wing system. The roll🐬 hoop inlet ensures compliance with the mandated chassis safety tests and also feeds the central radiators with 🍌sufficient quantity and quality of air flow
Floor Fences
These fences help condition the flow as it progresses along the fl༺oor and to the diffuser
Rear Suspension
This improves the section alignment with the local flow and works in conjunction with the revised winglet cluster to generate increased lꦏocal load
Rear Corner
𓂃This system works with the realigned wishbone and toelink to improve wake management and generate more local l꧒oad
Front Suspension
Floor Edge
Legality. The change�🌜�s to the floor edge detail are aimed at recovering as much of the load lost due to the height change as possible. There is also a detail to improve the state of the spat vortex, which improves the load delivery of the total rear system
Diffuser
Legality. The changes to the diffuser geometry improves control of the wheel wake, works in conjunction with the revised𒁃 lower beam💜 wing to produce improved load throughout the wing:diffuser system

James was a sports jou𒀰rnalist at Sky Sports for a decade coveriܫng everything from American sports, to football, to F1.