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Red Bull's floor upgrade at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a first attempt to address the development issues that have hurt its 2024 Formula 1 car, with bigger fixes yet to come.
Red Bull has revised the tunnel geometry on its RB20's latest floor with the aim of 'improving pressure gradients along the floor' for better underbody aerodynamic performance.
Chief engineer Paul Monaghan described it as a "remarkably subtle" change geometrically, influenced by the short turnaround between the back-to-back races at Zandvoort and Monza before travelling to Baku.
But the hope is that it yields a tangible performance step before a further evolution is potentially ready for next week's Singapore GP.
"The lessons are kind of ongoing, and the immediate reaction tends to be [seen in] the later races," Monaghan said.
"So, it's a testament to everybody that we got it here. A lot of hard work, and that hard work will continue.
"Singapore's only a week away. So that will be potentially another evolution for us.
"The scale of the update kind of determines the phase lag in there.
"If we've managed to do it for this race, it's not the biggest one we'll ever undertake in terms of geometry change. It's subtle.
"Could the effect be good? Yes. And I think the proof of the pudding will be on Sunday afternoon."
Red Bull could equip both cars with the new floor in Baku as it has the necessary number of parts but Monaghan would not confirm whether that is the case.
This suggests there could be more back-to-back tests, or split specifications for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, as was seen at different times across the last two events.
The key thing is that Red Bull has reacted so quickly to its defeat to McLaren in the races in the Netherlands and Italy and its particularly worrying form at the latter, where it was only fourth-fastest and lost ground in both championships to McLaren.
That left Verstappen, who has been very critical of the car's behaviour and Red Bull's trajectory, worried about the threat from Lando Norris in the drivers' championship and has prompted new team orders at McLaren because it believes Norris's title shot is realistic.
"We're not going to sit still from these comments [from Verstappen], or our performance in Monza, and do nothing to bring here, and hope," said Monaghan.
"There are many ways to address what we found on the car or the car's behaviour from Monza, and it touches all the aspects of the car, not just whether we revise a floor geometry or wing geometry.
"It would be naive of us to think that we can just leave it. We've licked our wounds [and] we've tried to bring changes to the car and make it better.
"We don't want to watch Monza again, it wasn't the most pleasant event for us. So, we'd like to improve relative to our opposition."
Grander developments will likely have to wait until at least the United States GP in late October, which follows an unusual month-long gap in the schedule after next weekend's race in Singapore.
That could be an opportunity for Red Bull to introduce a bigger floor upgrade but also complementary parts, and maybe even a new front wing that seeks to replicate the progress in aeroelasticity that McLaren and Mercedes have found this season.
Monaghan said that will be defined by how Red Bull performs in Baku and Singapore, where it can allocate development and financial resources, and whether it is willing to risk a major package for Austin as that's a sprint weekend with only one practice session.
"It gives us the freedom to potentially do more," Monaghan said of the upcoming gap, which is the same length as F1's summer break but without a mandated shutdown, so teams can work throughout it.
"The real [priority] is you don't force yourself into doing it. The disciplined approach is to say, 'Is it valuable enough to spend the money to do it, to take it to Austin?'
"And don't forget, Austin's a sprint race, so you're going to roll the dice in FP1 and then go, 'OK, yes, no, indifferent, keep it, not keep it'. But that then leaves us potentially with few of any one piece.
"So, your choices for Austin are team dependent, and somewhat confidence dependent."
What else is new in Baku?
Mark Hughes
Aston Martin: There has been a small revision to the small trim around the bottom edge of the rear lower deflector with the aim of improving diffuser performance.
RB: Red Bull's second team has reduced the camber on the front wing flap to give efficiency gains when being used to balance a low-downforce rear wing.
