Ferrari, Purple Bull, Williams lead F1 Belgian GP improve sheet

Purple Bull, Williams and Ferrari have introduced probably the most vital automotive adjustments to Spa-Francorchamps as eight of the System 1 groups are set to introduce upgrades over the dash weekend.

As beforehand reported, Ferrari has introduced its reprofiled rear suspension to Spa, which it hopes will make the automotive much less delicate to ride-height adjustments and due to this fact simpler to maintain inside the splendid working window.

Having sampled the brand new format throughout a latest temporary filming day at Mugello, Lewis Hamilton says he expects it to take a number of weekends for Ferrari to optimise the brand new geometry and achieve vital advantages, however he praised the staff for its growth efforts.

Purple Bull has introduced its newest tranche of upgrades after beforehand introducing tweaked flooring, entrance wing and rear nook fairings in earlier races.

The staff is bringing additional delicate tweaks to its Barcelona entrance wing to Spa with revised “first and second components” to lift the general downforce stage.

It has additionally improved the rear wheel bodywork winglets so as to add load with out upsetting the steadiness of the automotive. Then, for cooling functions, it has tweaked sidepod inlets, the engine cowl and entrance suspension fairings.

McLaren has introduced the most recent iteration of its low-downforce rear wing, that it says will probably be “bettering total effectivity throughout an identical drag vary”. McLaren has aggressively tackled the aero effectivity of its vary of wings lately, an space during which it traditionally lagged behind Purple Bull, and its newest low-drag design must also stand it in good stead at circuits like Monza, Baku and Las Vegas later this 12 months.

Mercedes is introducing a brand new entrance wing endplate to assist optimise the move over the entrance tyres, and for related causes it has additionally made a rear nook tweak, transferring what it calls the “drum lip” inboard away from the rear tyres.

Aston Martin has introduced a shorter nostril, which suggests it has additionally needed to replace its entrance wing meeting to match it. At Spa additionally it is introducing a entrance wing flap with lowered load for the calls for of Spa's lengthy straights, though staff principal Andy Cowell identified the brand new entrance wing is “extra of a check merchandise” and unlikely to be raced.

“It is a dash race and we need to make sure that we set the automotive up nicely for the race,” he mentioned. “So, Fernando [Alonso] will probably be testing the entrance wing in FP1. If we're not sure, we are going to persist with our current wing.” 

The staff did carry a lower-downforce rear wing and beam wing that it intends to maintain on the automotive all through.

Alpine has additionally introduced a lower-downforce rear wing and beam wing in what's a modest improve, because the staff has consciously restricted its 2025 in-season growth for the sake of 2026.

Racing Bulls has tackled its diffuser and rear nook winglets to enhance the airflow across the rear of the VCARB 02, whereas additionally bringing bespoke low-drag rear wings, with new staff boss Alan Permane telling Autosport the staff is bringing yet another minor improve after the summer time break whereas aero growth has shifted to 2026.

Williams has introduced an intriguingly massive improve package deal targeted on a brand new profile for the all-important flooring, with adjustments to the ground fences and a extra advanced flooring edge wing design.

“The revised fence geometries redistribute the steadiness of loading by way of the ground fence channels – this will increase the native entrance of flooring loading in addition to bettering the potential for the downstream move,” the staff defined.

The Grove squad has additionally revised its sidepod inlet, which has allowed it to make a deeper undercut to its bodywork and enhance aero efficiency with out sacrificing energy unit cooling.

Haas and Sauber are the one groups to not declare any upgrades for this weekend's dash format occasion, which provides groups just one single follow session on Friday to dial in upgrades earlier than heading into dash qualifying.