Ferrari have brought aerodynamic upgrades in four different areas for the United States Grand Prix, each in areas that can provide significant performance boosts. This comes after Lewis Hamilton downplayed the team's plans, telling the media in Austin that the upgrades are "very, very small".
Hamilton said: "It's worth less than a tenth, it's like half a tenth." Team-mate Charles Leclerc also suggested it would be nothing more than a minor step forward. However, early indications suggest the seven-time world champion may have been conservative with that statement.
Upgrades Focus on Floor and Diffuser
In official submissions to the FIA, Ferrari cites performance as the primary reason for the upgrades in all four areas: the floor body and floor board, the sidepods, and the diffuser at the back of the car. The changes to the floor and sidepods are described as having "focused on increasing floor downforce" at both the front and the rear of the car, "whilst also increasing energy levels and flow stability sent towards the back of the car".
Of the new diffuser design, the Scuderia wrote: "Benefitting from improved onset flow quality, the diffuser expansion and overall geometry has been further optimised and returns increased aerodynamic load in an efficient way." Visually, the changes are most noticeable on the sidepods, where the shape is rather different to the previous spec. The plan is for the new geometry to help airflow interact better with the updated floor.
Promising Start in Practice
It remains to be seen what exact performance boost the changes will have, but the first hour of running looked promising for Ferrari. Hamilton was sixth fastest but half-a-second off the fastest time of the session, which was set by Leclerc, who narrowly pipped Max Verstappen to top spot.
It was also an encouraging start for Lando Norris, who was third fastest and just over two tenths down on Leclerc in his upgraded McLaren. McLaren have introduced performance upgrades in three areas of the car: the front and rear corners as well as the diffuser. Red Bull have also introduced a performance upgrade to their front wing for this event, while they have also made reliability changes to the front corners. Mercedes are the only team of the 'big four' not to bring any new parts with them to Austin.
Midfield Battle
Meanwhile, Racing Bulls hope to cement their status as the top team in the midfield with another raft of performance upgrades. They are fifth in the championship with 100 points to show for their season so far, with rivals Alpine now 32 points further back and clear outsiders in the race to finish the year as best of the rest.
