McLaren deliver latest upgrade in battle with Red Bull

McLaren has brought an upgrade to its cars for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix as it continues its pace battle with Red Bull. A year ago, McLaren rolled out a major upgrade package that lifted it away from the back of the grid following an abysmal start to the campaign, albeit one it had forecast in pre-season as it knew it was behind in its development. Twelve months on, and McLaren is now neck and neck with constructors' champions Red Bull in terms of performance, although Max Verstappen continues to be the difference for the team in his clash with Lando Norris. For the sprint weekend at the Red Bull Ring, the McLarens of Norris and Oscar Piastri have a new front wing and front suspension to 'improve flow conditioning...resulting in improved aerodynamic load'. That could prove a game-changer in Austria given the shortness of the lap, and where additional points are on the line with the sprint event.

Red Bull has reported in the car presentation submissions document to the FIA no visible upgrades on its cars. Aston Martin, Alpine, Williams and Haas are likewise. Mercedes has introduced a new beam wing on its W15 to aid performance and drag reduction. Specifically, there is a reduction in the beam-wing element camber that reduces load, both locally and on the floor, resulting in less downforce and drag. Ferrari's SF24s now have circuit-specific cooling louvres in anticipation of high ambient temperatures at the Spielberg track. On the RB, which introduced a raft of major upgrades for the last race in Spain but struggled to optimise the package, it has updated its rear corner, notably the configuration of winglets on the rear brake drum face to help generate load and manage the flow at the back of the car, in turn improving the overall performance of the flow-conditioning elements. At Stake, for the first time this season, the cars have a new lower rear wing which offers a small reduction in drag to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the car overall, in keeping with the requirements of the Austrian circuit and other similar tracks.