Tech review - Ferrari and McLaren Suzuka updates

Japan’s Suzuka circuit is a huge favourite with drivers, but perhaps not so much so with engineers, who know that getting a car perfectly balanced around the technically challenging, old-school track is not the work of a moment…

In addition to the updated aero package already tested briefly at the previous round in Malaysia, Ferrari introduced the new front wing above. The only difference over the previous design is a small but important one - the horizontal fin in the footstep area inside the endplate (inset, yellow highlight) has been removed. Of course, the new wing was mounted on the modified nose and pillars as previously seen here.

Slightly further back on the SF16-H, Ferrari repeated a similar update (above) to that seen in Austin last year (below), introducing new turning vanes under the chassis with three rather than two elements, and the addition of a horizontal ‘batman’ wing, all in order to improve the car’s aero balance.

And at McLaren the team again used the new front wing below which they debuted on the MP4-31 in Malaysia, now with much wider slots between all 10 elements, and a much broader footstep area just inside the endplate.