Upgrades At Imola (and How They Fared In FP 1-2-3)

Upgrades at Imola (and how they fared in FP 1-2-3)

Teams usually start bringing in large upgrade packages by now, with the start of the European races, as it’s far easier to transport them. Because of this, the constructors’ (or even drivers’) championship could change drastically following this weekend.

Here's a list of upgrades I could find + FP results. Do take it all with a grain of salt though since it's just practice.

Ferrari : New sidepod inlets and rear wings amongst other things (9 upgrades in total).

To the joy of all the Italian men watching, Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets, leading by over a tenth in both FP1 and 2.

Red Bull : upgraded their floor, front wing, rear corner and nose.

Max Verstappen, however, had a terrible few sessions, taking a short tumble onto the gravel and seeming to carry balance and grip issues over from Miami. It wasn’t just him in the gravel though, as he was joined by Sainz, Tsunoda, Albon, Hamilton, Piastri and others across the FP sessions.

His teammate, Perez, didn’t fare any better, with a red flag called in FP3 after he skipped across a turn hit the wall.

Aston Martin : Brought in new front wings, nose, floor, diffuser, engine cover, rear suspension and rear corner. Alonso crashed in FP3 as well, causing the first red flag.

Mclaren : Brought circuit-specific wings. They're still going strong, Piastri going second fastest in FP2 and both Mclarens topping the times in FP3.

VCARB : Hasn't seem to bring in any large upgrades going into their home race. Doesn't seem to matter though as Tsunoda goes 3rd fastest in FP2.

Williams : Made some tweaks to their floor.

Albon also signed to extend his contract earlier this week while on the way to kiss stingrays, citing that he believes in the “long-term project” that Williams is currently building on.

In FP1 however, his car’s engine shut down, leading to speculation about whether or not this was the best decision for his career. The car is also apparently overweight, rendering it much slower.

Sargeant didn't receive the aforementioned upgrade as far as I know.

Alpine, Stake : Have done the same as Williams, slightly upgrading their floors.

Haas : Now have a new, reshaped rear wing suspension. Nothing too noteworthy happened, except Magnussen cutting it a bit close to Ricciardo's RB in the last few seconds of FP3.

Mercedes : Have a new floor body, floor fences, beam wing, rear wing and front corner, seemingly the second part of the upgrades brought in at Miami.

Russell goes second fastest in FP1, only for both Merc drivers to complain about bumping in FP2.

And that's it! See you all for Quali :))