As we approach the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, there are a number of teams that have brought upgrades for the weekend. Out of these teams, there are some standouts that could make things interesting in the midfield battle.
The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix kicks off the European leg of the season. Given that we are now 6 races through the season, most of the teams have brought major upgrades to their cars and could have an impact in the race results. So now, let’s see which F1 teams are bringing the biggest upgrade packages for the weekend.
Racing Bulls
The first of the home teams, Racing Bulls, has brought only 2 updates to their car. The team has brought an updated floor body and an engine cover.
The new floor body is expected to increase the local load of downforce without disturbing the airflow through the floor of the car. The new engine cover will have a modified shape and will include a new chassis winglet. These two updates are meant to work together to improve high-energy airflow to the car, which will decrease drag and improve the floor’s performance, improving overall downforce.
Alpine
Heading into the weekend, Alpine are in the spotlight with their new leadership and driver lineup, with Franco Colapinto replacing Jack Doohan. Alpine have brought only 2 updates, an updated front wing and an engine cover. While the number may be low, these are 2 major parts of the car that could have a significant impact on the car’s downforce levels.
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The updated front wing is meant to bring overall balance to the car, while the engine cover focuses on delivering load to the rear end of the car to prevent oversteer.
Haas
Haas has brought a total of 5 updates for this weekend. This includes an updated Floor Body, Floor Edge, Diffuser, Rear Corner, and Rear Suspension. Basically, the team will have a completely different floor from the one they had in Miami.
The updated rear corner and suspension will improve the load of rear downforce, preventing oversteer around the tricky corners in Imola.
Aston Martin
From what it looks like on paper, Aston Martin is bringing the biggest upgrade package for the weekend. They are bringing a total of 7 upgrades. This list includes an updated Halo, Floor Body, Floor Fences, Floor Edge, Diffuser, Engine Cover, and Beam Wing.
Aston Martin is now desperate to unlock some performance in the car, as they are off to a very poor start to the season. The team has scored only 10 points, which came at the beginning of the season.
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Mercedes
Mercedes is bringing a total of 3 updated parts to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Out of these 3 parts, 2 of them are focused on increasing performance, while the other has been developed to help the car’s performance on this circuit specifically.
These updated parts are the Front Suspension, Front Wing, and a circuit-specific Engine Cover. Both the front suspension and front wing are meant to improve the airflow to the rear of the car, increasing rear downforce. The engine cover is also meant to improve local load to the rear wing while improving engine cooling.
Red Bull
Red Bull has brought 3 updated parts to Imola. These include an updated Rear Suspension, Rear Corner, and Engine Cover.
Once again, we have a team looking to improve rear downforce around this circuit. However, the engine cover is more focused on improving overall downforce to balance the car better.
Ferrari
With Imola being one of their home races this season, Ferrari will be looking for a strong performance this weekend. Despite this fact, Ferrari has only brought 3 updated parts this season, out of which two are circuit-specific.
The team has brought an updated Rear Corner, which is a performance update, Rear Wing and a Beam Wing, which are both circuit-specific.
The Rear corner will improve the overall performance of the car, while the rear wing and beam wing will improve rear performance and reduce drag to help the drivers navigate around this circuit.
McLaren
With all their competitors bringing upgrades to Imola, the Championship leaders, McLaren, have also done the same. They have brought 1 performance-based update and 2 circuit-specific updates, totalling 3 updated parts for the weekend.
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These are an updated Rear Corner, which is performance-based, and a Rear Wing and a Beam Wing, which are circuit-specific. In addition to these parts, McLaren has also brought a new Suspension, which is not meant to improve performance, but to improve the car’s reliability.
Sauber & Williams
Both Sauber and Williams are the only two teams on the grid to bring no upgrades for the weekend. They have elected to go with the same parts they had on for the Miami Grand Prix.
For Williams, this could be a good choice as the current car has proven to be fast and can deliver another double points finish in Imola. For Sauber, the team are still researching as this is more of a buffer year in F1 while they focus their development for next year when the team transforms into Audi Motorsport.
From what we’ve seen so far, most of the teams are bringing upgrades to improve rear downforce. This will reduce the chances of oversteer, which is prone to happen around this circuit. It will be interesting to see how the teams perform this weekend. We’ll get the first taste of the pure pace of the cars during the qualifying session on Saturday.
Which team’s upgrade package do you think will have the most effect this weekend? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
