Alex Albon, Williams, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2023

Pictures: Nine teams bring new parts including Williams’ major update for Albon

2023 Canadian Grand Prix

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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

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2023
Red Bull front wing: Canadian Grand Prix
Red Bull updates, Spanish Grand Prix, 2023
Red Bull front wing: Spanish Grand Prix

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

Mercedes sidepod inlet, Canadian Grand Prix, 2023
Mercedes Monaco updates, 2023
Mercedes sidepod inlet: Monaco Grand Prix

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

Alpine rear wing, Canadian Grand Prix, 2023
Alpine updates, Spanish Grand Prix, 2023
Alpine rear wing: Spanish Grand Prix

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

Alpine front corner, Canadian Grand Prix

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

McLaren rear wing, Canadian Grand Prix, 2023
McLaren rear wing: Spanish Grand Prix
McLaren updates, Spanish Grand Prix, 2023

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

Alfa Romeo rear brake duct, Canadian Grand Prix, 2023

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

Haas rear wing, Canadian Grand Prix, 2023
Haas updates, Spanish Grand Prix, 2023
Haas rear wing: Spanish Grand Prix

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

Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2023
AlphaTauri front wing: Spanish Grand Prix
AlphaTauri updates, Spanish Grand Prix, 2023
AlphaTauri front wing: Spanish Grand Prix

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

Williams sidepod: Canadian Grand Prix, 2023
Williams sidepods: Spanish Grand Prix
Williams sidepod: Spanish Grand Prix

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

Williams engine cover: Canadian Grand Prix, 2023

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

Williams rear suspension: Canadian Grand Prix, 2023

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

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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1 comments on “Pictures: Nine teams bring new parts including Williams’ major update for Albon”

  1. “Reason for change: none”

    Is this a copy and paste error or did someone actually allow the team to get away with this.

Comments are closed.