Fresh details emerge of Aston Martin, Alpine and Racing Bulls’ subtle changes in Canada

Matthew Somerfield 17 Jun 2025 8:15 AM

The Canadian Grand Prix saw several teams make further adjustments to their front wing designs in the wake of the new load and deflection tests introduced at the previous race in Spain.

And, whilst these alterations aren’t as a direct consequence of those revised tests, they were made to cater for the different downforce and drag demands of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and other events with similar characteristics.

Subtle but meaningful

Alpine were one of the teams that announced a new front wing for the Canadian Grand Prix in the car presentation document ahead of the event, with the team looking to trim their downforce level to cater for the challenges of the circuit.

The overall shape and concept of the wing remains the same as before, with only the size and trailing edge shape of the flap altered to compliment their choices at the rear of the car, where they also opted for less load.

See the small arrows added to the image, which show that the new design (bottom) has less chord than before.

Racing Bulls also adjusted their front wing for Canada, with the upper flap trimmed back quite considerably on the trailing edge, in order to reduce downforce and drag and balance the car front-to-rear given their choice of beam wing and rear wing.

This follows changes that the team made at the Spanish Grand Prix, in order to come inline with the revised load and deflection tests, with a considerable effort also made in the outboard portion of the wing to offset any outwash performance that might have been lost as a consequence.

The new layout features a blade-like metal vane that the upturned and outwardly angled flap tips attach to, rather than having the more simplistic curled tips that had been used in the past.

There was another tweak made at the rear of the VCARB02 too, with the shape of the rear brake duct winglet altered, as the team straightened out the trailing edge of the lower section of the cut out.

This might seem like a very minor change, which it is but, given the confluence of aerodynamic flow structures in this region it only takes a minimal change to have a larger impact.

Aston Martin also had some changes to their brake duct for Canada, albeit at the front of the car, rather than the rear. Their changes also centred more on increasing cooling, with the inlet and outlet both enlarged to enable more cool air to enter, circulate around the assembly and then make its way out of the rear exit (arrowed, above).