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Mercedes and McLaren unleash huge upgrades in F1 war

Cody Rhodes in

Mercedes and McLaren have unleashed the huge upgrade packages they will use for the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

The championship leaders did not bring their huge upgrade to Miami, but Kimi Antonelli still claimed victory for the Silver Arrows, which won in Montreal last season.

In a bid to make it five wins from five races, Mercedes has brought seven upgrades to its W17 machine, covering all parts of the car.

A new front-wing has been shipped to Canada, with reprofiled endplates hoping to improve airflow to the rear of the car, where a rear winglet has also been added in a bid to channel this air to the diffuser, thus creating more downforce.

Elsewhere, Brackley has delivered a new floor with reprofiled elements and slots to increase local load, with the diffuser roof also being upgraded with a new roof and sidewall to “improve surface flow quality” through it.

A circuit-specific bigger front brake duct inlet has been added, owing to the increased heavy braking demands of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

In return, McLaren has brought six upgrades, also including a new front-wing to improve flow “across the operating range”.

New bodywork has been provided with a fresh engine cover design, as has a new halo winglet to direct air.

The Woking team has not brought its own Macarena-style rear wing according to the official submissions, instead the rear wing upgrades focuses on revised end-plates to increase load.

There is also a new rear suspension design to aid load generation at the rear corner and the diffuser, whilst this is to work in tandem with revised floor edges to improve air-flow.

Like Mercedes, McLaren has also brought a circuit-specific part – namely cooling louvres to cover the “full range of ambient temperatures” expected.

Elsewhere, Red Bull has brought tweaks to its front-wing flap elements and brake ducts, whilst the floor and engine cover have also received attention from the design team at Milton Keynes.

Ferrari has submitted no upgrades for Canada – with its big upgrade coming last time out in Miami.

The article continues below.

Upgrades galore

Elsewhere on the grid, Williams has two performance upgrades on offer for Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, focused on the front suspension and exhaust tailpipe of the FW47 – following a trick from Ferrari in pre-season testing.

Racing Bulls has a four-strong upgrade with a new floor, rear corner, beam wing and exhaust tailpipe, with no circuit-specific upgrades for Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

Haas’s design team has been busy with a total of five upgrades, focused on the sidepod inlet and engine cover to better direct the air towards the rear and the diffuser, all aided by a new floor to increase local load, with the rear suspension now being “optimised” with a new faring design.

Audi’s R26 machine is armed with a fresh diffuser and new sidepod louvres for cooling in addition to new circuit-specific front and rear brake duct designs.

Alpine has a new floor and rear wing, with Cadillac has a new front corner for cooling purposes focused on the brake ducts, whilst Aston Martin, like Ferrari, has submitted no upgrades for the event.

ApexF1

by ApexF1

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