Nine of the 10 Formula 1 teams have brought upgrades for this weekend’s British Grand Prix, but Williams’ is by far the biggest of all.
Only one of Williams’ drivers, Alexander Albon, will run the update at this weekend’s race and next week’s Austrian Grand Prix. The team has brought a revised front wing, floor, diffuser, engine cover, rear suspension and other parts for its FW44.Several other teams have brought major upgrade packages as Formula 1 begins the first of a series of races on tracks which place a premium on high-speed performance and cornering.
Red Bull have repackaged the rear of their RB18 which they say will give them a broader range of cooling options. Alpine have also brought a new specification engine cover for their A522, aimed at improving the air flow to the car’s rear end.
Mercedes have also brought the latest in a series of aerodynamic changes for their W13 as they seek to unlock more performance from their troubled design. Only AlphaTauri have come to Silverstone with an entirely unchanged car.
Mercedes
Front Suspension
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Volume added to side of chassis local to pushrod and [front top wish bone] rear leg, along with fillet extensions where these legs meet the chassis.”
Description: “Downwashes the flow local to the chassis side, shedding a vortex which then goes on to improve the flow underneath the floor.”
Sidepod Inlet
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Repositioned vanes on side of chassis ahead of sidepod.”
Description: “Improves flow alignment of these vanes, which in turn improves flow quality into the radiator duct and hence also cooling performance.”
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Increased floor edge wing slot forward and increased camber of forward portion.”
Description: “Increased camber drops pressure locally to increase floor edge loading, this in turn increases forward floor load.”
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Performance – drag reduction
Difference: “Reprofiled wing tip (reduced camber).”
Description: “Aim to reduce wing load efficiently; this has been applied to our medium downforce wing and is track-specific.”
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Realigned bib wing [angle of attack].”
Description: “Generates local load – the update was to improve flow alignment and hence improve flow quality under the floor.”
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Small camber change to forward floor fence.”
Description: “Increases the pressure delta across the fence, which increases local floor load and also improves the flow to the diffuser.”
Red Bull
Front Corner
Reason for change: Reliability
Difference: “Calliper temperature management”
Description: “changes to the assembled calliper to avoid hot spots caused by local convection and conduction from higher temperature items in close proximity.”
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “revisions to the upper portion of the top body”
Description: “Engine cover changes to broaden the cooling range for Silverstone as well as upcoming circuits with quite differing demands.”
Floor Edge
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “floor edge geometry revision”
Description: “An edge geometry change to improve local flow stability and therefore maintenance of aerodynamic load in all operating conditions.”
Floor Fences
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Minor geometry revision”
Description: “A subtle geometric change to this area to improve local flow stability and therefore maintenance of aerodynamic load in all operating conditions.”
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Ferrari
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Sidepod undercut revision, rear view mirror housing and outboard stay redesign and rear cooling exit update”
Description: “Not necessarily specific to Silverstone, this update is part of the standard development cycle. This is an optimisation of the current car concept and results in overall aerodynamic efficiency increase as well as engine cooling capacity range refinement.”
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McLaren
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “Trimmed RW flap options”
Description: “New trimmed rear wing flaps have been designed and brought to this event, in order to cover a wider range of drag options and allow freedom to trade straight line and cornering performance.”
Cooling Louvres
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “Additional cooling louvre panel”
Description: “An additional cooling louvre panel has been designed and brought to this event with the intent of allowing more freedom in trading cooling and aerodynamic performance.”
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Alpine
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The floor for both cars is new for Silverstone. It has revised underside shape edges which is visibly different to its previous design.”
Description: “The new floor provides more suction over a large area of the floor. It also will help improve flow to the rear of the car.”
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Performance -flow conditioning
Difference: “The engine cover has a higher exit at the rear of the car with deeper channels in the sidepods. There are also new louvre panels on both sides of the car.”
Description: “The updates are designed to improve the flow to the beam wing and the rest of the rear of the car.”
Front Suspension
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “There is a slightly revised push rod shape on the cars.”
Description: “The revised push rod will look to improve flow locally at the suspension as well as further down the car.”
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Aston Martin
Sidepod Inlet
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “The vanes on the top of the sidepod near the cockpit are different geometry and in revised positions.”
Description: “These devices control flow from around the cockpit for better downstream performance through a range of car conditions.”
Floor Fences
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Subtle changes to the shape of the floor fences, iteration of the concept.”
Description: “Small changes optimise the concept further from the previous geometry focusing on flow management and load on the front of the floor.”
Floor Edge
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Small changes to the geometry of the floor edge, maintaining the same conceptual configuration.”
Description: “The revised geometry makes local improvements to the flow management and hence improves local load as well as downstream performance.”
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The tips of the beam wing have revised profiles.”
Description: “The revised loading on the beam wing is more efficient and improves local areas of flow attachment for better local load.”
Rear Corner
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The vanes on the rear brake duct have a revised design, and some additional elements have been added on the [inboard] face of the lip.”
Description: “The vanes on the rear brake duct manage the flow around the rear wheel and generate local load.”
Williams
Front Wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Compared to the previous assembly, we have updated the FWF and mounting/adjuster detail.”
Description: “This change of geometry is intended to offer a larger range of local [front wing] load and hence rebalancing power to suit the rest of the update package.”
Front Corner
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly, we have adapted the local incidence of the [forward] deflector geometry.”
Description: “This change has been implemented to target a more stable flow regime for downstream components.”
Sidepod Inlet
Reason for change: Performance -flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the Launch assembly, we have introduced a new sidepod inlet and mirror geometry to suit.”
Description: “These changes offer a more effective balance of cooling flow demands versus the ability to manage the front wheel wake across and hence provide an improved onset flow for the rear of the car.”
Floor Fences
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the Launch assembly, we have modified the curvature distribution of the [forward] floor fences.”
Description: “To complement the upstream changes we have developed alternative [forward] floor fence options which aim to generate additional local load and to improve the level of energy available to the downstream components.”
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the Launch assembly, we have modified the expansion profile of the main floor body.”
Description: “The new floor body works in tandem with the new floor fences to generate local load and improved flow conditioning for the rear of the floor.”
Halo
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the Launch assembly, we have introduced additional winglet geometries on the side of the halo cladding.”
Description: “The new winglet geometries have been designed to improve the onset flow to the rear wing and lower beam wing.”
Floor Edge
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly, new floor edge details have been developed with a repositioning of the existing floor slot and floor edge winglet.”
Description: “With the change in sidepod geometry we have updated the floor edges to make better use of the improved onset flow and allow us to generate additional local load in the floor/diffuser region.”
Diffuser
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly, a change in main expansion and outboard wall surfaces.”
Description: “The new diffuser capitalises on the improved energy levels at the back of the car to increase the load on the car.”
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly, the main coke and engine cover surfaces have been updated with a larger volume geometry.”
Description: “The new engine cover and coke geometry offers an alternative method to manipulate the onset flow to the rear of the car and has been designed to make the most of a new internal cooling layout.”
Cooling Louvres
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly, we have a new series of cooling louvres which are positioned slightly higher up the engine cover surfaces.”
Description: “To suit the change in engine cover and internal cooling layout, we have repositioned the cooling louvres to maximise the benefit to the local flow field and to also improve the overall flow field interaction with the rear of the car.”
Rear Suspension
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Compared to the launch assembly we have introduced new rear suspension cladding surfaces.”
Description: “The new cladding surfaces offer a local flow field benefit and also allow us to generate more local load with downstream components”
Rear Corner
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Compared to the previous assembly, we have updated the scoop winglet and lower deflector geometries.”
Description: “With an improved onset we have updated the winglet geometries on the rear corner to provide more local load across the car operating range.”
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Alfa Romeo
Nose
Reason for change: Other
Difference: “Driver cooling vent at the front tip of nosecone.”
Description: “The addition of a small vent at the front of the nosecone will provide additional cooling to the driver in the event of a hot weekend.”
Haas
Front Wing Endplate
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “We have a second variant of the protrusion on the outboard side of the front wing endplate. This second iteration has the form of a simple curve, much like that of many of the competition.”
Description: “This device aids the flow control function of the front wing endplate, impacting the distribution of the front wheel wake to aid the airflow entry into the underbody.”
2022 British Grand Prix
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- Hamilton told Leclerc ‘I didn’t want to clip you and send you off’ after Copse scrap
- Sainz: Ferrari accepted I was right not to follow “10 car lengths” instruction
- Zhou says Silverstone crash force exceeded roll hoop impact test
DaveW (@dmw)
1st July 2022, 12:50
Williams abandoning zero side pod won’t make Mercedes nervous, but it shows that this approach is not for the faint-hearted.
Tricky (@tricky)
1st July 2022, 14:24
History in general hasn’t been kind to the driver who was the only one to get upgrades for a race, who can forget the “not bad for a No. 2 driver” incident.
Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
1st July 2022, 14:28
Where is Mercedes puling the money from? They’ve had 2 different cars, brought a trillion floors, must’ve spend all their CFD-hours twice and they still get to come with all of this? This championship is going to be decided in court. Not just P1 and P2, but I’d sue the heck out of Mercedes if I were Alpine…
(wasn’t allowed to use a better word than ‘heck’ because filters, whoopsy)
Coventry Climax
1st July 2022, 19:40
It would indeed be interesting to see a list of the spendings for each team so far.
To get an idea of who might run into trouble before the end of the season.
Much like the list for used/new PU components.
papaya
1st July 2022, 15:42
To Williams: No, No, this is not right. The Mercedes PU needed sidepod-less to compensate for its poor performance, you will go slower with that fatty sidepod…
SteveP
1st July 2022, 18:07
I’d say it may well be the most restrained set of negativity against Merc. that I’ve seen emanate from Bazza’s keyboard :)
He seemed to miss the point of the article, detailing Williams changing almost everything except the wheels.
Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
1st July 2022, 18:17
Nobody gives a hoot about Williams
Coventry Climax
1st July 2022, 19:36
I do. And I’m not nobody. Or at least my wife thinks so. And a couple of others. But then I do not live under Russian or Chinese government.
Nick T.
2nd July 2022, 0:18
I care about them. All the teams that have only been F1 teams I care about (Williams, McLaren & Sauber (I refuse to call it Alfa).
GeeMac (@geemac)
2nd July 2022, 6:01
@barryfromdownunder People who have been watching the sport for 30 years (like me) do.
Broke1984 (@broke1984)
2nd July 2022, 9:14
Speak for yourself Barry. Williams is my favourite team since 1992
bukester (@bukester)
2nd July 2022, 1:35
The best upgrade for Williams would be to get the hapless Latifi out of the car.