Though it’s late in the 2022 Formula 1 season and the last race was just a week ago, seven of the 10 teams declared upgrades for the Mexican Grand Prix.
Mark Hughes runs through what’s new, much of which is specific for the demands of the Mexico City altitude.
Mercedes
Mercedes brought along a slightly different floor edge as a test item for Nyck de Vries to try in FP1, evaluating a revised vortex generation.
Its much-discussed new front wing was officially on the Austin update list not this week’s, but made its track debut in Mexico.
Red Bull
The engine cover spine has been widened to create more cooling space beneath for the extreme cooling demands brought by Mexico City’s high altitude.
McLaren
Aside from additional winglets on the rear brake ducts for greater downforce (at a premium in his thin air) without worrying about the extra drag (the penalty for which is reduced here for the same reason), McLaren has brought an extensive cooling package.
This comprises extra cooling louvres in the top bodywork and gurney flap on the edge of the coke bottle exit to increase the cooling airflow speed.
AlphaTauri
A big extra cooling package for AlphaTauri with increased exit area for the front brake ducts, a bigger central cooling exit at the rear of the bodywork and the option of extra louvre cooling area on the top of the sidepods.
Aston Martin
Just a small tweak to the profile of the rear deflector around the lower bodywork to improve airflow exiting the underfloor.
Williams
Williams registered an option to increase the cooling louvres atop the sidepods to be used if necessary.
Alfa Romeo
Further tweaks to the floor shape arrive for Mexico City as part of the aero package upgrade which began at Suzuka and continued at Austin.
In this case there is a reshaped geometry to the forward part of the floor and the cut-outs there.
No reported updates: Ferrari, Alpine, Haas
