McLaren and Williams bring big changes to the Netherlands

When it comes to the resumption of Formula 1, it means new developments. After several days of rest for all the teams, some took advantage of this Grand Prix weekend in the Netherlands to introduce several aerodynamic appendages. Among them, McLaren stands out by arriving at Zandvoort this Friday with no less than six new features. The goal is clear: to outdo Red Bull in the constructors’ standings at the end of the season, as the Woking team is only 42 points behind its Austrian rival with ten race weekends remaining, including three sprints.

These new parts reflect McLaren’s ambitions, which had promised to accelerate its development in the second half of the season after making few modifications since their package was introduced in Miami.

It seems that we are now able to capitalize on some of the developments we have made in the field. I expect that, for the second part of the season, we will have new parts several times,” said Andrea Stella, surprised by his team’s performance even though they have developed less this season than Red Bull, evidence of the excellent work done by the team, which has managed to understand and perfectly optimize the introduced parts, allowing it to be considered the best car on the grid today.

The comments were then echoed by McLaren CEO, Zak Brown. The American expressed the ambition to aim for both titles, although this remains a major challenge.

« If I were to say that I am not surprised, it would be dishonest of me. I had the feeling that we were going to continue [in 2024] to reduce the gap. But did I think that we would be here at the summer break, in a race to take the lead [in the championship]? To do that, we would have to be first, second and set the best lap during the race. But if we maintain the same trajectory as in the last six or seven races, we will be where we need to be by the end of the year.

Six new developments for McLaren

To do this, the team from Woking took advantage of the summer break to analyze a lot of data and decided to pull out all the stops as Formula 1 returns this weekend with six new developments, corresponding to the second package after the one introduced in Miami, which had allowed McLaren to win on Sunday.

Among these, a new front brake scoop is added to promote better airflow at the front of the single-seater, in order to increase aerodynamic load without compromising brake cooling performance and gain a little more performance.

The second evolution concerns the front suspension, which has been revised to promote better airflow. McLaren being one of the teams using a pullrod suspension system, this allows lowering the center of gravity of the car and thus promoting better airflow management. The British team is therefore seeking to enhance aerodynamic downforce, which is highly demanded on circuits like Zandvoort.

The third improvement is made at the level of the floor, an essential component for aerodynamics. This weekend, McLaren has decided to modify it in order to strengthen the aerodynamic load around this part as well as the airflow to improve the performance of the floor, thus reducing drag and promoting better straight-line speed.

The fourth evolution concerns the rear pushrod suspension of the McLaren, which has been reinforced to optimize the airflow at the rear of the car, especially around the rear wing and the diffuser.

The fifth improvement introduced is a new rear wing to increase aerodynamic efficiency at the rear but more generally on the entire car, essential for a track as technical and hilly as Zandvoort.

Finally, the sixth and last evolution concerns the beam wing, this small wing located between the rear wing and the diffuser, which serves to push the dirty and turbulent air upwards and over the car behind it in order to make the cars easier to follow. In the Netherlands, it has been modified to meet the requirements of the new rear wing also introduced this weekend. McLaren is therefore positioning itself strongly this weekend, hoping that their evolutions will work in order to be able to threaten and even beat Red Bull on Verstappen’s home turf. However, Red Bull has also decided to bring some new features this weekend.

The response from Red Bull

The Milton Keynes team has decided to introduce a new, narrower cooling inlet to reduce the risk of engine overheating, with Zandvoort being a less power-hungry circuit than Spa in terms of power unit. In addition, Red Bull has decided to modify the Halo fairing by introducing a new vertical element to improve the airflow generated by the car to better convey it to the underbody and sidepods, thereby improving the efficiency of the engine cover.

Finally, the Austrian team is bringing reworked mirrors this weekend with the introduction of a small reflector. The Austrian team also plans to test several parts during free practice to fine-tune the performance of its car, which is currently lagging behind.

Big news at Williams.

Nevertheless, McLaren is not the only one to have brought many developments to the Netherlands. Williams is indeed bringing this weekend its first major evolution package including a new floor intended to reinforce the airflow around this new appendage and the rear of the car, a reshaping of the diffuser to adapt to the new characteristics of the Williams, a modification of the air intake at the level of the sidepod with a longer upper surface than the inner surface, thus creating a larger « pontoon » along the cockpit.

The Grove team also made modifications to the cockpit and engine cover to improve the airflow throughout the car, as well as a revision of the main rollover hoop geometry to save weight. Finally, Haas, Racing Bulls, and Alpine also brought some evolutions this weekend in terms of suspensions and the rear wing.

With all these developments, the hierarchy on the grid could well be shaken up as soon as this weekend in Zandvoort, marking an intense return of Formula 1 with ten Grand Prix to come.