And, while it’s still early in the weekend, Valtteri Bottas’ eighth-place finish in FP2 offers at least an early indication that its changes may have moved up a notch in an ultra-tight midfield battle.

The revisions are extensive, as there are also some high-downforce, circuit-specific updates loaded onto the car to deal with the rigors of the Monte Carlo street circuit.

The changes are at the rear, where the bonnet, floor body and floor edges have been optimized to improve flow conditions while also improving cooling.

Alfa Romeo C43 technical details

photographer: George Piola

The latter also benefits from the introduction of a new cooling panel, which sits on the shoulders of the bonnet, providing the maximum cooling capacity available in its option package.

Meanwhile, the rear suspension fairing has been revised to work with the new rear brake duct fence (red arrow, old spec inset below).

Alfa Romeo C43 rear wing and rear brake pipe comparison

Photography: unconfirmed

As expected, the Monaco also has higher downforce rear wing and spar variants. While it does have common ground with other options, it’s clear how deep and steep the main plane and upper flaps are in this specification.

The tail pylons have also been redesigned, introducing greater clearance between the goosenecks and the leading edge of the main aircraft, while their overall height has also been increased.

This is paired with a more bulbous DRS pod and actuator arrangement than those used in recent races.

Metal inserts have also been added to the rear quarter-end plate cutouts, again a departure from the style used in recent competitions, while the flap edges and pivots have been reinforced.

The cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix meant that a lot of the upgrades that had been planned for that round were pushed to Monaco, so there was quite a lot on display.

Aston Martin has opted to stagger the release of new components it plans to debut at Imola with those currently on display best suited to Monaco’s needs.

Aston Martin AMR23 technical details

photographer: George Piola

The remaining parts not used here will carry over to the Spanish Grand Prix, with a revised outer front wing layout a likely candidate given how the team described some of these updates in their pre-event presentation of the car.

This weekend the AMR23’s upper wishbone fairing has been revised and now features a twisted profile across its span to improve downstream flow.

The lower front brake duct deflector has also been relocated within the confines of the legality box, a feature that may bear more fruit once the aforementioned front wing changes in Spain.

Aston Martin AMR23 rear brake details

photographer: George Piola

Meanwhile, at the rear of the car, the suspension fairings have been trimmed to alter their angle of incidence, and guide vanes have been added to the rear brake assembly’s inner drum to help divert airflow as it passes through and around the void The airflow is between the two surfaces.

The upper transition tip section of the empennage endplate is also sloped on top of the main planar section rather than being parallel to it.

Alpine also stumbled upon this approach at about the same time, which allowed it to pancake the upper tip of the wing and change how it interacted with the rear quarter cutout.

Alpine A523 technical details

photographer: George Piola

Alpine has also made extensive changes to the Monaco’s sidepod architecture, and the team that originally pioneered the waterslide-style ditch have now taken it to a more extreme level after seeing what Aston Martin has done with the idea .

The A523’s sidepods are now wider and taller, allowing the team to incorporate deeper valley sections.

Not only does this help improve the passage of airflow through the assembly down to the rear of the car and the Coke bottle area, but it also helps airflow along the sides of the car and under the floor, which has also been modified to accommodate.

Alpine A523 Aerial Overview

Photography: Alpine