Monaco has signalled the start of the European leg of the 2023 Formula 1 season, and a number of teams have arrived at the event with upgraded components.
Many of the new parts were originally scheduled to be introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last weekend, however the race was called off due to flooding in the area.
That hasn’t stopped the teams from arriving at the narrow and tight Monaco venue with a host of new parts.
Much intrigue surrounds the Mercedes squad, who has been on the back foot during the opening rounds.
Having declared at the season-opening race in Bahrain that its car concept would be changed going forward, Monaco showcases the first step of its new design path.
A noticeable change has been made to the sidepod inlet, as Mercedes has abandoned the ‘zero sidepod’ concept that turned heads when it was unveiled last year.
In addition, it has arrived with a change to the top wishbone of the front suspension, a change in camber of the floor fence, added winglets to the rear corner, a wider bodywork design with the engine cover, and increased camber on the rear wing flap.
As it looks to close the gap to Red Bull, the reigning World Champions have an upgrade of its own, focusing on the rear wing set-up to suit the high-downforce Monaco track.
Ferrari has made modifications to the rear corner which it says is part of the “standard development cycle” to improve local flow features and loading. It has also introduced a high-downforce rear wing.
At the front region of Aston Martin’s car, the team has modified the upper wishbone, while small alterations have been made to the fairings on the rear suspension.
Circuit-specific changes have been outlined in the rear brake ducts to improve cooling and the rear wing with more aggressive geometry to improve performance.
Alpine has realigned the wishbone, pushrod and trackrod fairings of its front suspension, introduced a wider sidepod and made a small floor edge cut out to work in conjunction with the new sidepod.
It has also made changes to the rear of the car with the rear and beam wings in response to Monaco’s track characteristics.
McLaren’s new livery isn’t the only difference present this weekend – it too has a new rear and beam wing set-up, while it has also made a brake scoop change to aid cooling at the front corner, while it is using a lower winglet endplate at the rear corner.
Alfa Romeo has a series of upgrades present on its car – a new engine cover has been fitted, as well as a new design to the floor.
The rear suspension covers have been redesigned, as have the rear brake ducts. The rear and beam wings have also been reprofiled, with all of the aforementioned changes introduced to suit Monaco’s layout.
It has also fitted new cooling louvres to maximise the cooling performance of the car.
Haas has detailed changes to its front wing and front suspension to improve performance around Monaco.
Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, have listed a large number of modifications for the race weekend.
These include changes to the floor body, fences and edge, while the vertical sidewalls have been modified on the diffuser.
The radiator duct inlet areas in the sidepods have been reduced by raising the lower lip, while the ‘undercut’ of the engine cover has been modified to suit the smaller inlet.
The front suspension has been modified, with the outboard trackrod moving rearward, while the rear wing and the rear wing endplate have been altered to increase downforce.
Finally, Williams has a high-downforce configuration rear and beam wing, as well as various alterations to its front suspension. The exit of the front brake duct has also increased in size to aid cooling.
