How the latest Mercedes tweak played its part in Austria F1 win

Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix was never likely to produce a huge list of updates as being a sprint in the middle of a triple header made it far from ideal to bring new parts.

Nonetheless, some teams bucked the trend as they continue to try to eke out the tiny performance gains that are proving so critical in the fights up and down the grid.

Interestingly, Mercedes has continued its policy of bringing updates to nearly every race, as it added a new beam wing arrangement to its arsenal on a weekend that George Russell came out on top.

As can be seen in the main picture, the lower element of their bi-plane arrangement reduced in chord when compared with the specification used since it introduced the arrangement at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The team was targeting a reduction in downforce and drag from the new element, with the trailing edge cut back when compared with the previous specification. The outer perimeter, near the endplate, is also decidedly shorter than before. 

Another team that has been chasing more flexibility in its aerodynamic set up over the course of the last few races is Sauber, with the Swiss-based outfit preparing a number of different rear wing options to cater for the various venues being visited.

For the Austrian Grand Prix, it added a new beam wing arrangement to its suite of options, with just a single element favoured to help reduce downforce and drag and complement the rear wing it had chosen at the Red Bull Ring.

And, whilst it might be tempting to assume that it’s simply a case of the team having removed the upper element, this is not the case.

There’s slightly more chord on the single element, as can be seen in the comparison from FP1, above, with Bottas sporting the single element variant, whilst Zhou Guanyu ran the low downforce double element arrangement.

Neither Sauber driver raced the new beam wing in the end, with it likely being saved for a venue that requires less downforce and drag than the team needed at the Red Bull Ring.
 

McLaren MCL38 end plate comparison

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

McLaren has delivered a comprehensive round of updates for its car during the season which has catapulted it towards the front of the pack.

But it is not resting on its laurels. Instead it continues to target its weaknesses and arrived with another batch of parts in Austria.

The facet of performance where the team felt the MCL38…