All 10 Formula 1 teams have introduced updates to their cars for the second round of the season in Jeddah.
Williams, which finished last in the 2022 constructors championship and therefore has the highest aerodynamic development allocation of any team, has brought the most extensive upgrade package for the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. These include optional changes to its front wing flap – one of which failed on Alexander Albon’s car during qualifying in Bahrain – to alter the balance of the car.For the most part teams have concentrated on improving the aerodynamic efficiency of their cars for the Jeddah track, where average speeds are considerably higher than in Bahrain. Many teams have selected smaller beam wings and altered the shape of their rear wings to lessen drag.
However some teams have brought parts aimed at improving the all-round performance of their cars. Ferrari and Mercedes have made detailed changes to their floors for this reason, the former noting the revision is “not track specific”.
Red Bull, who dominated the first race of the season in Bahrain, have bought updates solely aimed at trimming out the RB19 for the demands of Jeddah. Aston Martin, the surprise package of the season-opening race, have brought slimmer wings at the front and rear of their AMR23 as they bid to return to the podium this weekend.
2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix F1 teams’ updates
The teams submitted the following details of changes to their cars for this weekend’s race.
Red Bull
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “The beam wing assembly is less cambered or curved inside view than the version used thus far in 2023.”
Description: “Demands of the circuit in Jeddah are better served with a lower level of downforce and therefore drag, for a given speed, the effect being a better lap time compared with higher rear wing levels.”
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “Upper rear wing is also less cambered (curved) or therefore as deep in the vertical sense as the rear wings used thus far in 2023.”
Description: “Same rationale as the beam wing applies as the behaviour of the upper rear wing is the same. Demands of the circuit in Jeddah are best served with a lower level of downforce and therefore drag, for a given speed, the effect being a better lap time compared with higher rear wing levels.”
Rear Wing Endplate
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “As the endplate wraps into the main plane and flap elements of the upper rear wing, a change to the element geometries necessitates a new endplate geometry.”
Description: “This is a consequential geometric change of the wing elements and is not a primary influence of the downforce and drag generation of the wing assembly. The 2021 regulations allowed a modular approach for such changes.”
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Ferrari
Front Wing Endplate
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “This update is focused on the endplate profile itself as well as the junction treatment between endplate and wing elements.”
Description: “Not strictly linked to the peculiarities of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but more part of the standard development cycle, effort on junction treatment pays off in terms of overall downforce, flow conditioning and car efficiency.”
Floor Edge
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Introduction of a different forward cut-out and raised trailing edge “
Description: “This geometry evolution is part of standard development and is not track specific. This floor edge is focused on flow conditioning improvements for underfloor flow quality benefits.”
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “Depowered lower beam, and introduction of an upper slat element.”
Description: “This depowered beam wing is specific to Jeddah Corniche Circuit characteristics in terms of car efficiency requirements, shedding Cd [drag coefficient] at the appropriate track ratio.”
Mercedes
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Performance – drag reduction
Difference: “De-cambered upper rear wing.”
Description: “Camber of upper wing reduced to produce a wing efficiency appropriate for this high speed circuit (lower drag than Bahrain).”
Floor Fences
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “De-cambered floor fence.”
Description: “Small reduction in fence loading, which results in better flow being sent to the rear of the floor, improving diffuser performance.”
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Alpine
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Performance – drag reduction
Difference: “A new backed off outboard section of the beam wing to contend with the demands of this circuit.”
Description: “The change to the beam wing offers a reduced drag level in line with the demands of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit being lower downforce.”
McLaren
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “Offloaded Rear Wing geometry.”
Description: “Given the higher efficiency demand of this circuit, a new, less loaded Rear Wing geometry has been developed, efficiently reducing both Downforce and Drag.”
Diffuser
Reason for change: Performance – flow conditioning
Difference: “Modified rearward floor shape.”
Description: “The rearward floor shape has been changed to alter the aerodynamic expansion behaviour of the diffuser with the aim of improving overall aerodynamic performance.”
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Alfa Romeo
Front Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “New front wing flap trim options.”
Description: “The new flap trim options will allow the team to have a wider range of geometries to enlarge the balance window, in particular in consideration of Jeddah’s track characteristics.”
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “New rear wing main planes.”
Description: “The new rear wing main planes will allow the team to tailor the car’s downforce level to the requirements of the Jeddah track.”
Aston Martin
Front Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “For this event we have a new front wing flap which reduces the chord and incidence of the flap, most visible at the outboard.”
Description: “This component is to reduce front wing load to achieve desirable aero balance setup with the smaller rear wing also introduced.”
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “The new rear wing has a shorter chord flap compared to the previous version used at R01 [Bahrain].”
Description: “The geometric changes reduce rear wing load and hence drag to allow the car setup to be optimised for the characteristics of this circuit.”
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “The new beam wing has reduced incidence and chord compared to the version used at R01 [Bahrain].”
Description: “The geometric changes reduce rear beam wing load and hence drag to allow the car setup to be optimised for the characteristics of this circuit.”
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Haas
Front Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “Front wing equipped with a new flap.”
Description: “New front wing flap geometry developed to suit Jeddah type circuit balance requirements, in combination with a new rear wing assembly developed with lower drag.”
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “New arrangement of top wing elements will equip the car in Jeddah.”
Description: “New rear wing assembly developed to achieve a reduced drag level improving overall efficiency for this type of track, thanks to the combination of a new rear top wing together with a new flap element.”
AlphaTauri
Rear Wing
Reason for change: Performance – drag reduction
Difference: “The shape of the wing varies in front view to reduce the depth of the wing towards the tips.”
Description: “The reduced depth of the rear wing profiles combined with some tip off loading to reduce drag to align to circuit requirements.”
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Williams
Front Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – balance range
Difference: “Two small optional gurney flaps for the front wing are available for the first time. They differ only in their span length.”
Description: “This increases the local load on the front wing elements, thereby extending the aero balance range. They will only be fitted if required.”
Beam Wing
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “There is a small beam wing available for this event. This can run with or without the large forward element of the beam wing assembly.”
Description: “This efficiently changes the downforce/drag range of the rear wing assembly to suit the circuit conditions. This new beam wing will run only if it is suitable for the track conditions.”
Rear Corner
Reason for change: Circuit specific – drag range
Difference: “New, shorted winglets on the rear brake ducts.”
Description: “These work with the rear wing assembly to efficiently change the downforce/drag range of the car “
Front Corner
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “A smaller front brake duct exit scoop is available for this event.”
Description: “This feature trades brake cooling for a small gain in downforce. It will be deployed if the brake cooling is sufficient for the Jeddah track.”
Coke/Engine Cover
Reason for change: Circuit specific – cooling range
Difference: “If required, a small exit gurney is available for the centreline bodywork exit. This is a new part.”
Description: “Helps to draw more flow through the cooling system to provide an efficient increase in fluid cooling if required.”
2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
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- FIA president Ben Sulayem under investigation for interfering in F1 race – report
- Two races, no points: How 2023 compares to McLaren’s worst starts to a season
- Don’t complain about Red Bull dominating F1, they deserve it – Sainz
- Alfa Romeo identify “massive debris” which ruined Bottas’ race
t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
17th March 2023, 13:15
This is one of my favourite ‘regular’ articles you guys do every race weekend! Love seeing all the changes the teams have made.
RandomMallard
17th March 2023, 14:40
Hi RaceFans team. I’m loving these articles every weekend as they give a really fascinating insight into all the technical changes, but I was just thinking there are a few improvements that could be made to the article. Firstly, they do sometimes just feel like a wall of text and reading them can be quite difficult, and I just wonder whether each article could do with a few more photographs? I understand that this may be difficult to achieve though, considering the time in the weekend that these details are released, although I do wonder whether this article could maybe be pushed back until after practice on Friday to allow a few more images to be included, potentially even highlighting any more noticeable changes to the cars.
Additionally, it feels a little bit like the formatting could be a bit clearer within the summary for each teams’ changes. For example, would it be possible to make the “Reason for change”, “Difference” and “Description” titles slightly clearer, maybe making them bold? For example:
Reason for change: XYZ
Difference:: XYZ
Description: XYZ
This isn’t meant to be a criticism or anything, because these articles are still very good and a fascinating read for people interested in the technology; I just wondered if they could be improved even further. I’m interested to see if anyone else has similar thoughts or any other ideas?