Updates, the point: McLaren news, Ferrari postpones and Red Bull…

By Carlo Platella
The race for development has always been central to Formula 1, but even more so in the context of the current four-way fight where even a tenth can be worth two rows on the grid. When activities resume It’s McLaren who steps on the acceleratorshowing up with a package of updates kept in the pipeline since the now distant Miami Grand Prix. Mercedes instead tries to reap the benefits of the new fund introduced at Spa, while Red Bull grit its teeth, even considering a step back. Ferrari for his part he looks to the future with optimism, but in Maranello the new package is not yet ready.

McLaren

The MCL38 has established itself as the most versatile and complete car of the leading group, without betraying any particular flaws in balance or driveability. A quality that is not a coincidence, given how McLaren stands out from the competition for a more moderate pace with the updatesThe Woking team chooses to take the time necessary to thoroughly analyse the innovations before launching them, ensuring that they do not run into side effects as has happened to other teams.

“In a good way, We took our time to understand thoroughly”, Lando Norris’ explanation to the press present in Zandvoort. “We’ve seen other teams bring new things to cars that haven’t necessarily worked. We wanted to make sure we didn’t do that, which is why we’ve been patient. Even though we’ve had some great weekends, I think we’ve paid the price in the last few races compared to some of our competitors who have brought upgrades. So it’s nice to have these events coming up now.” Right in Holland McLaren introduces second package of innovations after the one in Miami, attempting a lead over Red Bull that could be worth recovering in the championship.

Ferrari

The Scuderia from Maranello is among the teams that have paid the side effects of the updates, which have exacerbated the problems of bouncing and narrowness of the operating window of the SF-24. The positive news for the Prancing Horse after the break is the confidence shown in having understood the origin of the problems that arose with development. Sainz says: “The team has done its analysis on the first half of the season. I think there is understanding what exactly went wrong with the parts that didn’t work as expected. Whether we will be able to or have enough time to recover performance and time lost remains to be seen.”

“I don’t know how much the others will develop, but we have analyzed and we know what we did wrong, I think it’s clear”continues Sainz. “Now it’s all a question of logistics to see if we have the ability to gain two, three or four tenths in the next ten races to be as quick as McLaren.” In Holland the Ferrari will race without updatesthus re-proposing the look used up to Spa. Listening to Leclerc however, the innovations in the pipeline at Maranello are promising: “I can’t say when we’ll bring them, but I’m fully confident that the work we’re doing on the updates It will make us take a step forward”.

Red Bull

In Max Verstappen’s home race the low-efficiency, high-cooling bodywork returns introduced in Budapest, this time on both RB20s. For the rest, the priority at Red Bull is to improve the balance of the car, which in the summer months complicated the set-up process. “We have definitely made the car faster, but probably more difficult to extract the potential from it,” Perez’s words to the press in the paddock. “Of course we will have to find compromises until we have a definitive solution, but I am not too worried. I think the most important thing is to understand our problems and start from there.”

Helmut Marko is covering his tracks, explaining how it could take some time before the aerodynamic corrections are available. In the meantime, Perez does not rule out a partial abandonment of the latest innovations, evaluating whether to return to a previous specification to regain confidence in the car: “We’ll see. Surely. We’ll try different things to try to fix everything.. There is definitely something that has taken us in the wrong direction, but obviously it is not so easy or quick to solve. Everything takes time. With the few free practices we have available and the different types of circuits coming up it will not be easy”.

Mercedes

While we wait to find out if the Silver Arrows will have any more upgrades available, the team led by Toto Wolff will have to unravel the knot on the latest news. A new surface had debuted in Belgium, quickly abandoned after the first day of free practice in which the drivers had complained of bouncing and balance problems. Immediately after the race Toto Wolff was quick to explain how the difficulties of the first day were not due to the updates, which in fact returned to the car already in Zandvoort.

“We’ll use it tomorrow morning”, Russell’s words regarding the new fund, anticipating a program of comparative tests. “Lewis will ride with the Spa bottom, where we don’t see any problem. I think that in Belgium on Friday we were not competitive for various reasons. These are the challenges when you introduce updates in the car. There are thousands of reasons why you could be or not be competitive. This [il fondo] was a factor, but not the reason for the lack of pace. 99% this weekend We will continue with updates on both machines”.

Williams

As for the lower part of the standings, Williams is the only team to reveal its cards in advance. In Holland the FW46 will race with the first part of a large package of updates which was preferred to be divided in two. The innovations brought to Zandvoort aim to increase the aerodynamic load, while the subsequent updates will act on the balance of the car. “This is our first real update this year”reports Albon. “Let’s see where it takes us. It also gives us a weight gain, which always helps and should take us a little higher. It’s the first real upgrade in terms of increased downforce, because they are new parts anyway, but to take weight off the car.”