Red Bull and Ferrari's major upgrades

The Spanish Grand Prix is a traditionally a point where Formula 1 teams introduce a mass of new parts, as it marks the end of the early-season whirlwind of consecutive flyaway races.

Sure enough nearly every team has aerodynamic, mechanical or power unit updates for Barcelona, but this time many of the rumoured big specification changes have been held back - either due to crash test failures or a desire to do more evaluation at the upcoming post-race test.

Nevertheless, there are still plenty of interesting developments to analyse following F1's first major upgrade push of 2015.

FERRARI

A huge update appeared on the Ferrari. Aside from the nose and front wing, nearly every other aero surface has been updated. The list includes front brake ducts, bargeboards, sidepods, floor, diffuser, rear brake ducts and rear wing endplates. Over two thirds of the car's bodywork is new and this is far more complex than anticipated.

Fundamentally the package revolves around the airflow passing to the sides of the car, and key to this are new shrunken sidepods. It's already been pointed out Ferrari has a clever radiator package; these sidepods make the most of the flat-mounted coolers, and the outer shoulder of the sidepods is now lowered.

This lowering opens up the space below the sidepod vane and directs airflow over the sidepods to the rear of the car. A similar concept was tried at Sauber when coanda exhausts were allowed.

To aid this flow around the flanks of the car, the front brake ducts have gained new vanes and there are also new bargeboards.

The floor ahead of the rear wheel has a new series of three slots, more detailed than the single large L-shaped slot used up until this race. There is also a tiny wing-like device fitted to the outer edge of the diffuser.

There's a lot to this package, which means a lot to assess and unpick if something isn't working as planned. So far Ferrari's revised structure and procedures have been working well to get new parts working straightaway.

RED BULL

Since its launch the Red Bull's nose has been rumoured to be due an update. Wild rumours about its length and number of crash tests have circulated and now we finally have seen the new short nose.

Shorter noses are by their very nature harder to crash test, as the distance to deform the nose means it's more difficult to absorb the impact within the required decelerations.

Red Bull's planned aero philosophy has revolved around a short nose, but its failure to pass crash tests pre-season meant a more conservative longer one was used for the early races.

Much of the aero on the car has consequently been compromised by the different nose. Now the shorter version has appeared, the rest of the car should work better.

Unsurprisingly, the new nose is a shortened version of the old one, complete with its bulbous thumb-like tip and arched front wing mounting pylons. Now the nose tip starts in line with the back of the front wing, rather than hanging over it, around a 10-15cm reduction in length. This frees up the airflow over the centre of the car, while the new more-twisted wing pylons aid the airflow along the flanks of the RB11.

To accommodate the new nose the S-duct inlet has changed. Rather than being in-line with the front bulkhead, the inlet now projects forwards 5-10cm, meaning the rear face of the nosecone is notched to clear the new inlet.

MERCEDES

There was a moderate update for the W06. Mercedes didn't bring major new parts, merely some add-ons to supplement recent, larger updates. Thus, simple parts have been bonded beside the cockpit and to the rear crash structure, as well as a new cooling inlet in the sidepods and a vane added to the front brake ducts.

Probably the most interesting of these parts are the fins fitted the side of the chassis around the bargeboard. We have seen similar devices on cars before, but placed ahead of the sidepod inlet whereas these are placed below the height of the inlet. They act as vortex generators to send airflow around the sidepod undercut more efficiently, improving the aero at the rear.

The little ear-like add-ons to the rear crash structure appear to be preparatory mounts for a monkey winglet, which was not fitted through practice.

On the lower edge of the sidepods a new inlet has been created, at floor height and quite far back along the sidepods. This may cool some parts around the clutch or gearbox.

Both cars were fitted with a new vane on the inner face of the front brake ducts - a thin strip of carbon merged from the brake duct, forming a vertical vane before arching outward to form a wing-like shape. This will direct airflow to the low-pressure region behind the front tyre, in turn reducing drag.

WILLIAMS

Bigger changes were expected, but the only visual changes to the Williams were revised fins atop the sidepods. These have been multiplied so there are three between the cockpit and sidepod.

The team was spending time with flow viz on the front wing and front brake ducts, suggesting there's some new detail changes in those areas too.

McLAREN

Aside from the revised livery the team had few visible changes to the MP4-30.

Under the skin Honda introduced more revisions to the engine. This has been achieved without resorting to spending tokens.

As the power unit rules stand, teams are free to introduce new parts specifications if the change is for safety, cost or reliability reasons.

McLaren-Honda's obvious struggles with reliability give it free rein to introduce new specifications. Once reliability is sorted then the tokens can be used for performance improvements.

The team has also gained a new fuel blend from Exxon Mobil and the car has small aero updates for this race.

SAUBER

The new specification front wing was not used on Friday, but the revised brake ducts and rear suspension used in the past few races remain and have been joined by new details around the tops of the sidepods.

A new horizontal vane between the cockpit and sidepod vane has been fitted. Its addition requires a new fin under the wing mirror, and these parts were held back until Spain as they required bonding to the chassis - something not practical at flyaway races.

TORO ROSSO

The only noticeable change to the STR10 was to the front edge of the T-tray, though Toro Rosso also introduced a new floor for this race.

Previously, a small fence projected upwards from the corner of the splitter; now this fence is split into three vanes, which align with the main bargeboard and turning vanes to direct airflow around the sidepods.