McLaren, Mercedes demonstrate low-drag Spa F1 updates

The low-drag specific upgrades brought to the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix have been revealed, with both McLaren and Mercedes bringing new beam wings alongside their circuit-specific front and rear wings.

Both UK-based teams are continuing upon their quest to close in on Red Bull in the championship standings, and have thus attempted to scale up their performance around the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Mercedes has shortened the chord length of its upper front wing elements to reduce the overall drag produced, and has balanced this with a shallower rear wing. 

The rear wing retains the detached edges used throughout this season to gain more control over the flow structures produced at the tips, but at a much lower angle of attach to reduce front area – thus drag.

Further changes have focused on the beam wing; although the technical documentation supplied prior to FP1 suggests that this is a single element version, the team has also been spotted with a version that retains the lowest part of its two-element beam wing, and has switched out the upper element for a low-camber version.

The team has also introduced a new floor edge wing, which Mercedes says will create a lower pressure in the region of the floor fences to extract more downforce, while the halo was spotted without its usual winglet on top of the fairing. Small wool tufts have been affixed to the top in order to assess the general flow patterns experienced without the usual winglet.

Mercedes also has a new diffuser to improve the acceleration of the underbody flow, which should yield a return in downforce.

McLaren has also introduced a low-downforce rear wing, which has a squarer mainplane element with much less camber to cut the drag produced. Like Mercedes, this wing retains the detached endplates to keep hold of the main flow effects shed from the car.

McLaren MCL38 technical detail

Photo by: Jake Boxall-Legge

A single-element beam wing sits below this, and this can be balanced with the upper wing flap to improve the effect of DRS on the straights. The DRS zone on the Kemmel Straight has been shortened by 75 metres, thus prioritising efficiency.

Updates to the brake duct furniture have also been implemented for the low-drag demands of the Spa circuit, with reduced camber and angle-of-attack for the elements here to ensure that the MCL38 continues to pursue efficiency.

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