Red Bull and Williams upgrades explained as development war intensifies

McLaren is not the only team arriving in Azerbaijan with new parts on the car. Williams has quietly been building towards a significant Baku development, one focused less on downforce and more on shedding weight from the FW48.

The car had gone largely untouched for much of the season, with the Grove squad instead choosing to put its resources into laying the groundwork for next year's challenger. 

As a result, the aerodynamic changes introduced for the Baku City Circuit are modest.

The connecting strut between the bargeboards and chassis has been removed, while the outer edge of the floor around the leading edge has been reshaped. Neither change amounts to much on its own.

Far more significant is what cannot be seen. The chassis itself has been made lighter, and while Williams has not released an official figure, information gathered by RacingNews365 suggests the reduction is in the region of 7kg. 

That could be worth as much as two-tenths of a second per lap.

Red Bull join Azerbaijan GP upgrade party with Max Verstappen-tailored package

Red Bull has also brought new parts to Baku, and its changes are considerably easier to spot than Williams' hidden weight-saving. 

The Milton Keynes-based team has reworked the sidepods around the undercut, altering the wider floor edge, the section running alongside the lower part of the sidepods, to sharpen aerodynamic efficiency.

The revision allows for better management of airflow around that area, increasing the downforce generated by the bodywork. It also brings more consistent and predictable behaviour from the rear of the car.

That directly targets a trait of the RB22 that has caused headaches through the campaign: rear-end instability stemming from aerodynamic load not being distributed evenly across the car's aerodynamic map. 

It is not a cure-all for the car's weaknesses, but it is a package that appears tailored to suit Max Verstappen's driving style far more effectively than before.