Azerbaijan GP: Key F1 tech updates, direct from the garages

Ferrari has optimised its wing mirrors for Baku, adding three small triangular shaped flaps onto the upper and corner surfaces of the mirror in order to affect the flow field around them.

Red Bull is utilising an extremely low downforce rear wing in Azerbaijan as they counter the powerunit deficit they have to the Mercedes and Ferrari powered teams along the main straight.

The FW41 outfitted with kiel probe arrays just behind the front wing to establish if the revised flap configuration is working as expected.

Red Bull conducts a wheel rim clearance test in order to ascertain that the rim doesn’t touch any bodywork after the team have affected repairs on Max Verstappen's car.

Ferrari’s new-for-Baku front wing, which features a revised endplate canard (arrowed) and the movement of the segregated endplate flap which is now mounted on the flapped section, rather than the endplate, invoking a different aerodynamic effect as the wing becomes loaded.

As a comparison here’s the older specification wing, complete with two-piece canard and the endplate flap mounted on the endplate.

Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18 rear wing detail

An all-new rear wing assembly for Renault in Azerbaijan as they look to deal with the varied downforce and drag demands of the Baku street circuit. This new wing is spoon-shaped and utilises just two open end style louvres in the endplate with which to alter the tip vortex.

A rearward shot of Renault’s new rear wing arrangement which also features the McLaren style-strake arrangement in the central transition portion of the endplate.

Williams has a spoon-shaped rear wing available in Azerbaijan.

Red Bull prepared Daniel Ricciardo’s RB14 with kiel probe arrays behind the front wheels in Free Practice 1 as it looks to establish whether a revised front wing was providing the uplift in performance that had been expected.

Renault Sport F1 Team R.S. 18 front wing detail

Renault has a new front wing design available in Baku as the team look to improve its form in comparison with the lead trio. The wing features three upper flaps that have been squared off at their tips and a large cut out in the upper outer section. Meanwhile the ‘r’-shaped cascade has also been considerably enlarged, altering how airflow is pushed across the face of the tyre.

A forward shot of the bargeboards serrated footplate and vertical flow vanes on the Ferrari SF71-H.

Force India’s correlation issue with its sidepod design for 2018 has been met with a blunt rectification in Baku, the small fin added in the pods midriff will create a pressure gradient that improves the flow characteristics to some extent.