The high-downforce F1 rear wings introduced in Monaco

Ferrari and particularly McLaren have moved to close the gap with the previously dominant Red Bull RB20 in recent weeks, with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking his maiden win in Miami and backing that up with searing pace as he ran Verstappen close in Imola.

Their battleground now shifts to the streets of Monaco, with Red Bull expecting it will struggle more on the kerbs and the bumps of the twisty layout.

As is tradition, all 10 teams have readied Monaco-special rear wing assemblies that prioritise ultimate downforce generation, with the accompanying excess of drag less of a penalty on the circuit.

Ferrari’s rear wing follows a week on from a significant update package for the SF-24 in Imola. The new rear wing carries the main DNA of the one first used at Imola, with a semi-detached flap tip and endplate juncture but, rather than having the spoon-shaped mainplane.

The surface has been flattened out, with more of an abrupt transition required at the endplate.

This higher load configuration is the first time this season that Ferrari has made changes to its wing to tune rear downforce levels, albeit an unused higher downforce configuration was available in Suzuka.

The Scuderia has also re-used the small winglets on the side of the rear wing support pylon to help provide another small boost in downforce.

McLaren has brought a new rear wing assembly consisting of both circuit-specific tweaks to the rear wing and the supporting beam wing.

It says it has added load “with the aim of efficiently increasing downforce at high downforce circuits”, which suggests that its new kit will be useful at other races this year and not just Monaco.

In conjunction, it has modified the beam wing to “increase the overall efficiency” of the ensemble.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Filip Cleeren

Red Bull has also tweaked both its rear and beam wings to provide a “greater chord and camber” to extract more local aerodynamic load.

It is also one of several teams to add notches or cutouts to its front suspension fairings to allow for more steering lock to navigate Monaco’s extremely tight Fairmont hairpin.

In addition to the typical high-load rear wing assembly, Mercedes has also brought a new front wing to Monte Carlo. Not only does it add local load, but it also alters the vortex coming from the wing tip towards the rear of the car and should improve the tyre wake.

Aston…