Piola's early hints from the Barcelona upgrades

Was it worth the wait? As always, Formula 1's technical minds had the Spanish Grand Prix milestone presumably marked upon their respective calendars with a big red circle, as Barcelona plays host to the first set of large-scale upgrades made to the stack of 2019 cars.

For the opening quartet of flyaways, adding new parts is always a logistical struggle, and instead teams largely use those events to understand their cars across a different range of circuits. Then, with that data, the work can begin on making big improvements.

And so, this year's crop of cars have either been reworked or reimagined with that data in mind, with any shortfalls in the launch-spec machinery now clear.

Captured by Giorgio Piola from the pitlane at Barcelona, those upgrades detail what each team has been focusing on - but the test of whether they truly alleviate any problems and deliver a boost to performance will only emerge when the cars hit the circuit.

Ferrari's SF90 has a new development on the engine cover, with a triangular cutout just aft of the air intake. The positioning of this also suggests that Ferrari has tightened up the bodywork in this area, as it features a larger drop-off.

The fin is used to collect airflow off of the engine cover and tidy it up before it gets to the rear wing - protecting the car from any small pockets of wake before the rear wing.

Due to the large size of that fin, and if there's enough sheer stress at the surface, airflow can risk separation and damage the flow fed to the rear wing. The triangular cutout delays that, and while airflow does have an opportunity to coalesce and form a bout of turbulence off of the intake, the fin can then pick that up and turn it into something more laminar for the benefit of the rear wing.

This rear wing has also been updated, adding an extra strake to the endplates to pick up airflow thrown off the rear tyres and manage the turbulence produced. It also adds a more pronounced suction effect at the rear to build more stability.

Mercedes has also produced a number of new updates for the Spanish Grand Prix, and has also emerged with yet another new specification of front wing. Following Red Bull's lead, where the top flap has been trimmed off slightly, has allowed Mercedes to create a small split in the fourth element.

At any point in the front wing in a parallel plane to the centreline of the car, the wing must comprise five sections - and so this satisfies that regulation by ending the top flap prior to that slot.

The halo winglet returns, and the bargeboards have been reprofiled to pull more airflow away from the front of the car.

The second 'tooth' (marked with the red arrow) has its leading edge further forward, working in tandem with the first - which doubles up as the bargeboard mounting. The third tooth now features a pair of horizontal 'boomerang' wings, rather than just one - these generate tip vortices, which roll down onto the underside to then be carried around the sidepod undercut.

Reprofiling those bargeboards means they now link up with the new turning vanes on the sidepod in the hope of optimising the airflow direction around the sidepods.

Toro Rosso has also brought forth a range of updates, making detail changes to the STR14 in a bid to throw its weight around more often in the points-paying positions.

Specifically, attention had been paid to the rear of the car, with Toro Rosso adding a T-wing to the back of the engine cover fin. This features a slot to form two short-chord elements, more aggressively turning airflow upwards to assist the rear wing.

This also pairs up with a small element attached to the back of the rear wing mounting, using all of the space available for downforce-producing elements. With more rear-end downforce, the improved level of traction should provide the drivers with more confidence - the car potentially staying more stable with the application of throttle.

Toro Rosso ran with similar devices in testing, but none of those had been carried forward into the racing season so far.

The team has also used turned-in corners for its rear wing endplates throughout the season, and Piola's image showcases this curiosity in Toro Rosso's design.

This seems to be a reaction to how the airflow sheds from the car's bodywork, taking it further from the centre and turning it slightly around. This improves the effect of the rear wing by maintaining a more regular pressure distribution on both top and bottom.

Toro Rosso has also made changes to the front wing. The endplate now flares out, shortening the overall footplate. This redefines the inner lip of the endplate too, which now starts further back to focus on working the airflow at the rear of the wing. This improves the diffusion of airflow too.

The inboard section of the wing elements have also been opened out slightly, redefining the characteristics of the vortex produced at this section. In strengthening that vortex, the wake from the tyres can be trimmed and moved away from the entrance of the floor.

Below, the image shows the difference between the new wing (top) and the previous specification (below).

More parts are expected to be seen in Friday's practice, especially within the close midfield pack. What is known is that McLaren has extended its engine cover, aiming to improve the overall performance of its rear wing geometry, while its competitors will have also brought upgrades in order to remain competitive within the middle of the pack.