Red Bull and McLaren US GP upgrades revealed as Mercedes bring six-part W15 package

A reprofiled floor features in the upgrades brought by Red Bull and Mercedes to Austin, while McLaren are also ringing in the changes as they look to continue their title challenge.

F1 2024 is back in action after the ‘autumn break’, with the Circuit of The Americas, host of the US Grand Prix, having been tipped as the venue where many teams would unveil their fresh creations in the F1 2024 development war. That has proven true.

Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes bring upgrades to Austin

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Red Bull are bidding to end an eight-race streak without a win and get their Constructors’ title push back on track after surrendering the lead to McLaren. They will look to boost their cause with a two-part Austin upgrade.

Firstly, the floor edge wing camber over the rearward third has been reprofiled, which Red Bull say will generate more local load while maintaining flow stability, while in a circuit-specific move, the coke/engine cover has been modified, providing more efficient cooling by minimising the louvre openings.

As for McLaren, the team which has established a 41-point lead over Red Bull, seven modifications have been made to the MCL38 in Austin, as Lando Norris looks to continue his pursuit of Max Verstappen, having narrowed the Red Bull driver’s Championship lead to 52 points after a dominant display last time out in Singapore.

The front wing and front suspension have been modified to improve aerodynamic load, while the front brake ducts have also been updated to compliment the changes, with a low-cooling design, suited to COTA, brought in as part of this.

McLaren are also looking to improve aerodynamic load generation on the rear of the MCL38 with modified rear suspension fairings, while there is a reworked rear brake duct cooling exit to boost efficiency. McLaren has also brought a single element beam wing to Austin to efficiently reduce drag working in conjunction with the high downforce rear wing.

At Mercedes, there is a change on the front wing, with the flap twist distribution altered to reduce wake and improve flow to the rear of the W15 and rear downforce, while a re-profiled upper wishbone fairing Mercedes hope will also improve that flow. An additional vane element has been added to the floor edge wing meanwhile to increase floor load.

There is also a reprofiled inboard floor fence on the W15 to improve local and downstream flow.

And in circuit-specific moves, the sidepod inlet lower lip has been shifted rearwards to improve engine cooling, with additional cooling exits added to the rear suspension.

Ferrari, who remain in the Constructors’ title hunt with Red Bull and McLaren – their gap to McLaren 75 points – have opted not to bring any upgrades to Austin.

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With McLaren arguably having surpassed Red Bull in terms of having the quickest car on the F1 2024 grid, Verstappen was asked whether Red Bull’s alterations will be enough to reel McLaren back in?

“Well, if you look at the pace in Singapore, the difference, for sure not,” he replied to the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Austin.

“But every track is different. We know that Singapore is not our strongest track anyway. But I don’t expect that, suddenly, it’s going to be completely different and we are going to be the dominating car. We have our limitations a bit with this car already the whole year. Now we’re trying to make it better. But yeah, don’t expect it to completely swing.”

Asked if these RB20 limitations are the result of a bold concept choice from the team for this challenger, Verstappen replied: “It’s not from the outside. You can’t see it from the outside.

“It’s just some things that we put on the car, or how it’s developed compared to last year’s car that you cannot change overnight this year anymore.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has credited Monza as the race where the team began their journey to understanding where the RB20 went down a wrong path, the car having started the F1 2024 campaign as the dominant one.

Verstappen finished that race P6 and afterwards claimed it was “unrealistic” for he and the team to retain either title.

So, with six rounds to go and Red Bull bringing their upgrades to Austin, how does Verstappen rate his chances of winning a fourth straight title, and Red Bull a third, now?

“It’s 50/50, yes or no,” he said. “I don’t know, I mean, there’s a lot that can can go well or can go wrong in those six races, plus sprint races as well. So nothing is guaranteed from both sides.

“I prefer not really to think ahead too much and really live from weekend to weekend.”

Elsewhere on the F1 grid, Aston Martin has brought a six-part AMR24 upgrade, all focused on performance, to Austin as they look to generate some fresh momentum.

There is a new front wing with revised twist distribution, a new flap and revised endplate, while the coke/engine cover bodywork has been revised to work in conjunction with a heavily modified floor to improve performance, complete with a reprofiled diffuser.

Alpine has also heavily updated the floor on their A524 and reshaped the coke/engine cover bodywork to improve flow, while the rear wing main plane and flap have been re-profiled to boost rear wing loading.

Haas join the club with a revamped floor to extract higher performance from the VF-24 as they tackle their home race, while they have introduced a deeper sidepod undercut which should work with the floor for a more balanced performance increase across their challenger. An additional upwashing element has also been added to the inner face of the rear drum.

Newly-designed cooling louvres and a bigger central exit on the engine cover will increase cooling for this event and minimise the drag effect.

Sauber has updated every front wing element in a bid to improve downforce and the aerodynamic characteristics of their car, as they chase a first point of the season, while the front and rear suspensions have been updated. The upper rear brake duct deflectors have been modified in conjunction with the rear suspension top wishbone cover alteration for a small efficiency increase.

VCARB meanwhile has reprofiled the main underfloor and chassis interface on their challenger to increase local downforce generation and reduce loss from the underfloor structures.

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