With eight races to go in the 2023 season every team has brought updates to this weekend’s round – with a single exception.
McLaren and AlphaTauri have brought the most ambitious packages for this weekend’s race. In the case of the former, whose upgrade was covered in detail previously, the new parts are only for one of its drivers, Lando Norris.AlphaTauri meanwhile have brought an extensive array of new pieces intended to improve the downforce generated by the AT04. Its drivers – of which there have now been four – have complained of a lack of turn-in stability which the team has laboured to improve.
Its aerodynamic upgrade is chiefly aimed at getting the all-important floor to work better, and also includes refinement to the wings around the brake drum. Although these are small, they are especially useful as they are unsprung.
Two of their midfield rivals have brought updates on a slightly smaller scale. Alpine are blending downforce gains with cooling changes to meet the twin demands of Singapore’s twisty track and hot climate. That trade-off will be important at upcoming races with high demands on both cooling and downforce, notably Qatar and Mexico.
The front-running teams’ updates are more modest in scope. Aston Martin have a minor revision, Mercedes an improvement to their brake cooling for this hot track and Ferrari a front wing update which they noted is not Singapore-specific.
Red Bull, who expected Singapore would be one of the more challenging venues for their car, brought two aerodynamic tweaks intended to increase downforce. Not for the first time they made a point of noting they were “taking inspiration from competitor designs” with one of them. This team never misses a trick when it comes to turning the psychological screw on their opponents, knowing full well how galling that will be for each of their nine win-less rivals to read.
While Williams have a revision to their front wing just one team – Haas – has no updates once again. However the team confirmed this weekend it has a major upgrade planned for their next home race at Circuit of the Americas. However by that point there will be just five races left in the season, and Haas will be anxious they don’t slip any closer to the bottom of the championship table between then and now.
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix F1 teams’ updates
The teams described the changes to their cars for this weekend’s race as follows.
Red Bull
Floor edge
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “More camber in the forward portion of the floor edge wing”
Description: “To exploit energy in the air stream, more camber has been applied to the forward part of the floor edge wing resulting in more local load from this region of the floor assembly.”
Rear wing endplate
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The end of the flap element has a revised curl detail.”
Description: “Taking inspiration from competitor designs, the end of the flap element has a revised curl to the endplate which offered more local load for this element for this particular upper wing design.”
Ferrari
Front wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Reprofiled front wing flap”
Description: “Not specific to Singapore and part of the standard development cycle, the aim of this front wing flap update is to improve car efficiency over an extended aero balance range”
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Mercedes
Front corner
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “Large front brake duct inlet and exit.”
Description: “The change to the front brake duct inlet enables more air mass flow to the brakes to increase cooling capacity at this circuit, which puts especially high duty on the braking system.”
Alpine
Sidepod inlet
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Raised and staggered sidepod inlet along with increased undercut and revised mirror housing stay and winglets”
Description: “Increases overall load especially at higher cooling levels through improved flow to the rear of the car”
Cooling louvres
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Connected to the above – revised cooling louvres to bring appropriate level of cooling with the new bodywork”
Description: “Different shape to accompany the revised bodywork (see above description)”
Beam wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “Taller lip on the trailing edge of the beam wing”
Description: “Increases top rear wing load for a gain at high downforce levels – like the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore”
McLaren
Front wing endplate
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “New endplate geometry”
Description: “A new front wing endplate geometry will be introduced at this event, resulting in improved flow conditioning which provides a gain of aerodynamic load.”
Sidepod inlet
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “New Sidepod Inlet Shape”
Description: “In conjunction with the new bodywork shape, the sidepod inlet and mirror mounting has been revised, to aid flow conditioning on bodywork and floor.”
Halo
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “New halo furniture”
Description: “In conjunction with the new bodywork shape, the halo furniture have been updated to aid flow conditioning over the top of the bodywork.”
Floor body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Fully revised Floor”
Description: “The new floor features updated fences, floor edge as well as diffuser shape, which in conjunction with the revised bodywork Shape results in an increase in aerodynamic load.”
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Coke/engine cover
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Reshaped Sidepod and Engine Cover”
Description: “The Engine Cover and Sidepod/Coke has been reshaped to improve flow conditioning to the floor, resulting in the aforementioned increase in load.”
Rear corner
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Revised Rear Brake Duct Geometry”
Description: “The Rear Brake Duct external Winglet array has been revised, resulting in improved flow conditions in the area in conjunction with a modified Rear Toe link.”
Rear suspension
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Modified Rear Toe link shroud”
Description: “The Rear Toe link Shroud has been modified in conjunction with the revision of the rear corner geometry, improving local flow conditions.”
Rear wing endplate
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Updated Rear Wing Endplate Geometry”
Description: “The Rear Wing Endplate has been modified to increase local loading of the Rear Wing which efficiently increases overall aerodynamic load.”
Beam wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “More Loaded Beam Wing Geometry”
Description: “Suitable for this circuit, a more loaded Beam Wing geometry is available, which in interaction with the Rear Wing allows to efficiently increase aerodynamic load.”
Alfa Romeo
Floor fences
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Redesigned floor fences and floor geometry”
Description: “This upgrade, consisting of floor, diffuser and rear brake ducts as a whole, improves the aerodynamic efficiency of the whole package.”
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Diffuser
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Updated diffuser expansion”
Description: “This upgrade, consisting of floor, diffuser and rear brake ducts as a whole, improves the aerodynamic efficiency of the whole package. “
Rear corner
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Redesigned rear brake duct geometry, as well as realigned the suspension covers”
Description: “This upgrade, consisting of floor, diffuser and rear brake ducts as a whole, improves the aerodynamic efficiency of the whole package. “
Front wing
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Updated front wing flaps”
Description: “The updated flaps provide more set-up options for the car, improving the efficiency of the whole aerodynamic flow of the car.”
Aston Martin
Rear corner
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “The lower edge of the lower deflector has a revised profile within the allowable region for modifications.”
Description: “The modified trim improves the management of associated vorticity increasing the local load on the deflector, this also increases load on surrounding devices.”
AlphaTauri
Floor body
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the rear central floor has been modified.”
Description: “The modification is an evolution of the existing design to better optimise the flow entering the diffuser.”
Floor edge
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the floor edge local to the trailing edge of the forward floor fences has been modified. The rear floor edge and floor edge wing have also been revised.”
Description: “The forward floor edge changes lower static pressure local to the floor edge and helps draw increased mass flow under the forward floor between the fences. The rear floor edge removes the rear notch and ‘hockey stick’ floor edge wing in favour of a solid floor edge with modified floor edge wing remaining parallel to the floor edge. This change increases local floor edge loading.”
Diffuser
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the diffuser sidewall cut-out has been re-optimised to suit the new rear floor edge design.”
Description: “The diffuser modifications enhance the strength of the rear floor edge vorticity, giving a local load gain within the diffuser.”
Sidepod inlet
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the sidepod inlet area has been reshaped.”
Description: “This change increases the cooling range for radiators located in the sidepods to protect against very high ambient temperatures at this or any other high cooling demand circuits this season.”
Coke/engine cover
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the outboard bodywork has been modified. An additional cooling exit has also been added to the inboard engine cover local to the rear lower wishbone forward leg.”
Description: “The bodywork has been taken further outboard at its widest point to improve the interaction with the floor edge and strengthen floor edge vorticity for local load gain. The upper outboard bodywork has also been reprofiled to keep front wheel wake losses further away from the rear floor, increasing local load.”
Rear suspension
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the rear suspension shrouds have been reprofiled.”
Description: “The leg geometry changes improve local load generated by them. There is also a better interaction with the new rear brake drum geometry, increasing local load generated by the wing elements of the drum assembly.”
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Rear corner
Reason for change: Performance – local load
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the rear brake drum scoop inlet has been redesigned and the scoop exit geometry revised local to the upper wing cascade.”
Description: “The modified inlet reduces losses incident onto the upper rearward wing cascade, thereby increasing their local load. The revised scoop exit also allows these wings to generate more load by causing less aerodynamic blockage.”
Other – rear view mirrors
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Relative to the baseline geometry, the mirror body has been revised. The mirror vanes have also been revised to suit the new sidepod inlet upper surface.”
Description: “The mirror body changes reduce the extent of its wake losses, increasing flow energy to the back of the floor for increased local load in that area.”
Williams
Front wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “New, larger gurney flap available for the rearward most element of the front wing”
Description: “This increases the loading of the front wing to provide additional forward aero balance. This compliments the high downforce rear wing configuration and the balance requirements for Singapore. We will only fit this new [gurney flap] if the balancing power is required.”
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix
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