McLaren reveal Mexico GP upgrades in bid to regain dominance over F1 rivals

Sam Cooper

McLaren have sought to hit back from their disappointing US Grand Prix by bringing upgrades to their car for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Having won comfortably in Singapore, McLaren returned from the summer break with arguably the third quickest car after Red Bull and Ferrari made major gains in Austin.

Mexican Grand Prix upgrades revealed as title contenders make changes

McLaren

Ahead of the race in Mexico, McLaren have made the second most changes to the car with three upgrades, two of which are circuit specific.

Those circuit specific changes come on the engine cover and the cooling louvre with the team looking to combat the high altitude and high temperatures in central America.

But the one upgrade that may be of most interest is a revised floor which McLaren says has “geometric changes in all areas” in a bid to increase aerodynamic load across all conditions.

Red Bull

McLaren are not the only title contender to make changes to their car although Red Bull’s modifications are all circuit specific.

Red Bull have enlarged the volume of the central topbody on the engine cover with the team saying “given the ambient conditions unique to this circuit, RBR need a larger PU cooling exit and have chosen to alter the central part of the topbody to achieve the anticipated capacity.”

The other change comes on the front corner which has also been enlarged for similar reasons.

Ferrari

It is just the one change for Ferrari who bring circuit specific cooling louvres to increase cooling capacity at the expense of car efficiency.

More on the technical side of Formula 1

The two teams who could spring surprise at Mexican Grand Prix

Uncovered: The significant Mercedes W15 upgrades in final big package

VCARB

The team to make the most changes is VCARB who have two circuit-specific alterations and two more permanent changes.

The circuit specific ones are on the engine cover and the cooling louvres to improve air flow while the permanent changes are on the floor.

VCABR have made modifications to the camber of the floor fences to reduce the aerodynamic losses downstream and the floor edge wing profiles have been modified to increase aerodynamic load.

Williams

Williams are the final team to make alterations with a modified beam wing and engine cover both being circuit specific.

The other five teams have brought no upgrades to Mexico City.

Read next: FIA stewards support emerges in behind-the-scenes insight after US GP controversy