Mercedes steals Monza tech headlines

Monza is the last of the Formula 1 season's high-speed tracks. As well as demanding an extreme low-drag set-up, that also makes it an ideal venue to introduce a new engine specification.

Several manufacturers introduced power unit upgrades, headlined by a substantial token spend at Mercedes, while every car had aero changes to reflect the circuit's needs.

MERCEDES

The big news at Mercedes for Monza was the introduction of its new spec power unit. It has now used all its remaining seven development tokens in a major upgrade.

The focus was firmly on the conventional combustion engine and the update does not affect other areas such as the ERS or turbo. It's been a co-operation between Mercedes HPE in Brixworth and Petronas fuels to make the change, as its core is a new combustion process.

The result is a more efficient engine, which means more power, but also implies that driveability, fuel consumption, cooling and the duty cycle are also improved.

The seven-token spend included the three-token 'combustion' upgrade, which allows much of the top end of the engine to change around the combustion chamber.

The details of the other four tokens used weren't disclosed, but Andy Cowell of Mercedes did confirm that they were required for associated 'enabling' updates to support the new combustion process.

Up until Monza each Mercedes driver had only used two power units from their allocation of four for the season, a feat of reliability unmatched by other teams.

The Melbourne spec engines were used up until Montreal, when a reliability update was introduced, and those units were then used until Monza.

Aside from the obvious performance benefit of the updated engine, the importance of this update is that Mercedes now has eight races to run the combustion engine to prove its reliability.

This proven V6 engine will then be the basis of the 2016 unit, meaning that Mercedes' winter development and new 25-token spend can all be directed to ERS and turbo development.

It will be a worry for the other engine suppliers that Mercedes will have a powerful and proven package, with focused updates ready for pre-season testing, a fact made more significant as F1 returns to no in-season development for 2016 and engines need to be homologated by the end of next February.

Elsewhere on the W06, Mercedes made some adjustments for the updated engine, but the biggest visual change is yet another rear wing, downsized to meet the high-speed demands of Monza.

This wing isn't as aggressive as the twisted Spa wing, but follows the same principle of working the centre section harder and easing off the wing's angle near the tips to reduce drag.

FERRARI

In contrast to Mercedes' major update, Ferrari spent only three tokens on its power unit.

The exact nature of the update is closely guarded, but AUTOSPORT understands it relates, in similar fashion to closest rival Mercedes, to the combustion process. With only two possible updates costing more than two tokens, almost any parts of the internal combustion engine could be new. Again both drivers had these units available from the start of Friday practice.

Ferrari ran the SF15-T in very much Spa specification, but with a simplified front wing and a shallow - but not extreme - rear wing.

RED BULL

Renault continues to hold off the introduction of its updated power unit until later this season, when it will spend the first of its development tokens.

But there are still host of engine changes for its cars to increase the pool of power units to use at coming races - mirroring McLaren and Honda's Spa tactic. That means grid penalties for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

As it has to start towards the back of the grid, the RB11 has been set up to allow overtaking in the race, a compromise easier to make when qualifying pace is of little importance.

Thus the car has an extremely shallow rear wing and slimmed front to balance the reduction in downforce at the back.

Development was ongoing during Friday, the team paying with a different nose, S-duct and turning vane set-ups.

Both drivers conducted runs with fluorescent flow-vis paint applied under the nose area. However, this paint fed into the S-duct and exited over the top of the car, spraying itself all over the drivers' helmets.

Daniel Ricciardo's early run was particularly bad, his entire helmet including visor dowsed in the green oily fluid. Only the top of Daniil Kvyat's helmet was coated when he ran, suggesting the different front aero combinations affected how much the S-duct's flow attached to the top of the chassis.

WILLIAMS

After struggling at Spa, Williams appeared with far less downforce and drag at Monza, the rear wing being especially shallow.

Rather than a different main plane and flap combination to make the lower drag rear wing, Williams simply shortened the flap's length at its trailing edge.

With this geometry, the top of the flap is lower than the wing's endplates, a philosophy followed by some other teams in the pitlane.

This may be a more effective way to downscale the downforce/drag from a rear wing without resorting to making new planes, while still providing a strong DRS effect.

Williams will not run the new Mercedes power unit at the moment. The developmental nature of the update means there are not the parts to provide more teams, although Mercedes will consider its options after this race weekend.

McLAREN

Italy is another race where engine power and ERS energy will handicap the McLaren-Honda package.

Knowing the car will not have enough power around the lap from its hybrid systems, the MP4-30 has been set up with an extremely low downforce/drag coefficient.

Aside from the obviously downsized rear wing, the car sports the old longer nose, which being more streamlined produces less drag.

Front wing options are split between new and old versions to tune the aero balance at the front of the car to the rear.

FORCE INDIA

Monza is a track that rewards the low-drag approach Force India regularly adopts, and its Mercedes engine doesn't hurt here either.

The VJM08 has been topping the speed trap even with a reasonable-size rear wing, similar to Ferrari's levels. This means the car can have greater braking stability and preserve its tyres over a long stint.

LOTUS

While much focus has been trained on the team's commercial issues and imminent Renault takeover, the Lotus E23 has quietly received a number of small developments over the past two races.

At Spa a new front wing went unnoticed, partly as the alteration was in a specific area of the wing and not a major philosophy change.

Now the wing's main plane features a slot across its full width. Previously the slot stopped under the front cascade winglets. This update is most likely useful for the upcoming races that demand more downforce.

At Monza the team also played with the shape of the endplate and support for the cascade winglet, and it introduced an L-shape slot in the metal insert sections ahead of the rear tyres.

As with Williams, Lotus exploited a rear wing flap with a lower trailing edge to reduce downforce and drag.

TORO ROSSO

Toro Rosso was another team with the aforementioned low trailing edge rear wing set-up, adopting perhaps the smallest of all the rear wings used by teams at this track.

SAUBER

Sauber again tried the 'China-spec' front wing, which remains unraced since its debut.

This weekend the wing had a small aero rake fitted to measure the air trailing from it.

It's expected the wing will be more effective when conjoined with the upcoming Singapore aero upgrade.

MANOR/MARUSSIA

Manor's car is unchanged aside from the Belgium-specification rear wing, but it will have a new front wing and rear brake ducts introduced for the next race in Singapore.