A prime example was found in Miami last weekend, with both Mercedes and Williams installing different configurations in free practice.

Mercedes W14 Comparison – Miami

Photography: unconfirmed

For Mercedes this resulted in Lewis Hamilton using a filler panel in the upper section of the rear wing endplate. Meanwhile, George Russell used a more traditional openwork design.

This design difference has a significant impact on the behavior of the wing exterior, with drag and downforce levels traded off against each other.

Such experiments were facilitated by Mercedes’ decision to produce a rear wing with interchangeable parts, which not only saved money in terms of manufacturing, but also allowed quick changes to aerodynamic settings (red arrow).

Meanwhile, at the front of the car, Mercedes has trimmed the inside rear edge of the top clamshell into a crescent shape to help reduce downforce and balance the car with options for the rear of the car (blue arrow).

This is the solution we first saw from Azerbaijan’s Alpine, as it also wanted to find the right balance of front and rear.

In qualifying and the race, Hamilton continued with the above layout, while Russell switched to a notched front wing but kept the rear wingtip notch.

more or less?

Williams FW45 Rear Wing and Spar Wing Comparison – Miami

Photography: unconfirmed

Williams also experimented with its aerodynamic setup during free practice as it worked out the performance trade-offs between the upper rear wing element and the spar wing.

Alex Albon was tasked with experimenting with a higher downforce rear wing arrangement using only one lower spar wing element, while Logan Sargeant ran laps using a lower downforce rear wing combined with a twin spar wing setup.

In the end, Sargeant switched to the same arrangement as Albon, as the team relied on more performance from the empennage while increasing straight-line speed through the single-spar wing elements.

cooling off period…

Aston Martin AMR23 Cooling Panel Options

Photography: unconfirmed

Aston Martin has added another cooling option in the engine cover to help cope with the demands of the Miami street circuit.

The team had a number of options, including body panels with louvers angled to be more open and closed, as well as longer and shorter blanking panels to help exchange cooling/heat removal for aerodynamic efficiency and vice versa Of course.

Red Bull RB19 asymmetric hood cooling

Photography: unconfirmed

Meanwhile, Red Bull has used an asymmetrical cooling configuration on the RB19 this season and the team has again opted to use a louvered cooling panel (red arrow) on the right side of the car in Miami.

It also experimented with several more or less cooling options (lower, larger inset) during free practice before opting for wider options for races and qualifying.

Ferrari SF-23 Exterior Floor and Fence Comparison (Highlighted)

Photography: unconfirmed

Ferrari is preparing to introduce a raft of new parts to the SF-23 for the upcoming race as it looks to close the gap on Red Bull.

It kicked off in Miami as the arrival of the new floors saw multiple changes to components to deliver performance gains across the range rather than just a single focus.

The shape of the front outer part of the floor and the perimeter fence has been revised, with a more pronounced bulge at the front of the down-ramp section of the floor (see yellow highlight), while the shape and height of the tail at the edge of the floor fence in front of it has also been changed. Therefore was changed.

The change in curvature will have an effect on the airflow behavior on the top surface, but perhaps more critically, it will change the space available on the floor below, and the shape of the floor rails may also be optimized to further enhance the effect.

Ferrari SF-23 floor detail

photographer: George Piola

There also seem to be some subtle changes to the various surface profiles used at the edge of the floor, with the rolling sections that roll up and the tires tapering towards the rear both slightly different in Miami.

The diffuser has also changed, as the team revised the shape of the central aft section to take advantage of the advances made earlier.

Ferrari SF-23 rear detail

photographer: George Piola