All of the Formula 1 teams bar one – Ferrari – have brought upgrades for this weekend’s race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada.
In the case of most teams the changes are minor updates intended to adapt their design to the particular demands of the track, which requires good straight-line speed and strong traction. However others have brought more substantial upgrades, such as Aston Martin, who have brought the largest package of changes among the front-runners.Mercedes have continued to refine their extensive Monaco upgrade with a detail change on their sidepod. The all-conquering RB19 only has a new front wing this weekend, while Ferrari have made no changes as they continue to gain knowledge of the major changes they made at the last race which appeared to have mixed results, especially for Charles Leclerc.
The most extensive upgrade of the weekend belongs to Williams, and it is only appearing on one of their cars this weekend. As was the case when they made their most significant upgrade last year, only Alexander Albon has the new parts to begin with.
The revisions to the FW45 begin with an update to the front of the floor intended to increase its load and a reworking of the sidepods which are more steeply sloped. This has led to other complementary changes further downstream to the rear suspension, brake duct winglets and rear wing endplate. The aerodynamic details around the mandatory Halo and mirrors have also been modified to suit the overhaul of the car’s bodywork.
2023 Canadian Grand Prix F1 teams’ updates
The teams described the changes to their cars for this weekend’s race as follows.
Red Bull
Front wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Subtle re-profiling to extract more load locally from the elements.”
Description: “Tied to flow conditions, small changes were made to extract more load locally. The geometric requirements of these wings implies any such change typically necessitates a new wing assembly for even small changes.”
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Mercedes
Sidepod inlet
Reason for change: Performance – drag reduction
Difference: “Removal of outer tip winglet from sidepod wing.”
Description: “Removing this small vertical tip element results in cleaner local flow, improving flow to the rear of the car, whilst also reducing drag.”
Alpine
Rear wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Revised geometry including a thicker pylon and large end plate cut-out.”
Description: “The changes to the rear wing give a more efficient wing which replaces the equivalent drag level in our existing range.”
Rear Suspension
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Revised lower leg fairing geometry; more nose down.”
Description: “The changes to the rear suspension increase local load on the lower suspension elements at the rear of the car.”
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Front Corner
Reason for change: None
Difference: “Revised drum inlet ducts on front brake drums.”
Description: “The changes to the front brake drums increase brake disc cooling and front wheel rim cooling. The primary reason for the update is brake cooling.”
McLaren
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “New Rear Wing Assembly”
Description: “A new Rear Wing assembly featuring a new Flap and Endplate has been brought to this event, resulting in an efficient load gain.”
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “New Beam Wing Assembly”
Description: “A new Beam Wing geometry has been developed to suit the new upper Rear Wing assembly, resulting in an overall efficient load gain.”
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Alfa Romeo
Rear Corner
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “Redesigned cooling outlet for the rear brake ducts”
Description: “The rear brake duct has seen an increase in the magnitude of its cooling outlet, in order to answer the high demands of the Montreal circuit on the braking system.”
Haas
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “New geometry for mainplane and flap of the rear aerodynamic device will be available in Montreal.”
Description: “Due to the peculiar characteristic of the Montreal circuit, we have investigated the shape of the entire rear wing elements, proposing a solution that should optimise our performance on the entire lap, and the peak efficiency of the car.”
Cooling Louvres
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “Ambient conditions that normally are encountered in Montreal suggest a need to improve the cooling range available.”
Description: “The addition of a specific cooling configuration is due for complete the range of adjustment available to the engineer to obtain the best car performance and systems reliability.”
Floor Edge
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “A further evolution of the floor edge shape that it has been revealed as one of the most significant for the correct working of the entire floor.”
Description: “In the intense evolution work of the diffuser designed following the regulation in force from last season, the region of the floor edge has proven that even small shape modification ends up with significant benefit in improving the aerodynamic efficiency of the entire car.”
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AlphaTauri
Front Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “Compared to baseline, a new flap has been designed with reduced chord and camber wing sections. “
Description: “The nature of this circuit demands a lower drag rear wing for optimum lap time. The revised front flap generates less front wing load to give the desired car balance range for this choice of rear wing.”
Williams
Floor Body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The floor geometry is new, including the forward fences and the diffuser profile”
Description: “The revised geometry increases the local load at the forward floor as well as improving the downstream flow into the diffuser”
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Revised sidepod geometry with a more pronounced ramp and reprofiled engine cover exit”
Description: “The flow to the rear of the car is improved as a result of this update and, together with the revisions to the floor, leads to an increase in load. We have also taken the opportunity to fine tune the cooling of the car.”
Sidepod Inlet
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “There are minor updates to the mirror and mirror stay assembly”
Description: “The local profile change to the mirror works with the revised bodywork to provide an overall performance gain”
Halo
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “The Halo fairing is revised to include a modified trailing edge profile”
Description: “Like the mirror update, the new HALO fairing geometry better suits the flow field of the new bodywork and helps tune the onset flow to the rear of the car”
Rear Suspension
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “New external geometry to the rear suspension links”
Description: “The revised geometry has been developed to work in conjunction with the improved onset flow from the parts described above. They offer an improved local flow field at the rear corner of the car”
Rear Corner
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “New geometry for the rear brake duct winglets”
Description: “Driven by the new onset flow field improvements and the changes to the diffuser geometry, the new winglet design generates a small local loading improvement”
Rear Wing Endplate
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “New rear wing endplate geometry”
Description: “The new rear brake duct winglets require a modification to the rear wing endplate to ensure that the performance improvement is consistent across the operating envelope of the car”
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2023 Canadian Grand Prix
- Norris ‘even more’ sure Canada penalty was wrong after review request fails
- McLaren seeking more than just downforce gains from major upgrade
- Winning more races won’t necessarily lead to F1 seat – Palou
- Red Bull’s testing restriction will “massively affect” 2024 car development
- Schumacher’s set-up input gives Mercedes a “super advantage” – Wolff
falken (@falken)
17th June 2023, 19:18
“Reason for change: none”
Is this a copy and paste error or did someone actually allow the team to get away with this.