Tech: McLaren headlines early upgrades

It used to be unusual to see Formula 1 teams introducing new parts when travelling from one flyaway grand prix to the next.

But despite there ostensibly being little chance to produce upgrades in the fortnight between Australia and Bahrain, some teams had long planned to give development parts their debuts for the Sakhir race, so there was no shortage of new sights in the pitlane during practice.

It also helps that Sakhir has some of the same demands on the cars' set-up as Melbourne. The track rewards a strong front end, but the longer straight requires power and in addition also tests the drivetrain and cooling systems.

McLAREN

There was a change of front wing for McLaren in Bahrain, with the arrival of an all-new design after a modified 2015 wing was run in Australia.

The wing differs from the outgoing version in several key areas. Most visible is the cascade winglet, which is wider, plus the shape of the wing where it meets the neutral centre section - this transition being more twisted.

Under the wing, the number of fences has increased from three to four and the flick on the endplate is angled differently.

What remains of the old wing is the general shape of the outboard section of wing and endplate.

It's likely the downforce level is little changed from the launch specification wing, but the wing alters the airflow around the front tyre, so may have a better overall effect on the car's drag level.

FORCE INDIA

An unexpected change for Force India was the introduction of blown front axles on the VJM09. Like the S-duct, this is becoming a near-standard set-up on top F1 cars.

As the team develops its aero programme in Toyota's windtunnel and with some key ex-Red Bull aero staff, the car is becoming far more complex.

These new front axles and their associated brake ducts are the third iteration in the past year.

Initially the 2015 car ran brake callipers mounted ahead of the axle. These were then moved to behind the axle in order to allow ducting to bypass the brakes and blow out through the wheel.

Now the through-flow blown effect is even greater with air being fed within ducting inside the axle. This duct ends flush with the open end of the axle and does not rotate with the wheel, which keeps it within the regulations banning moveable aerodynamics.

The effect of this through-flow inside the wheel is the air exiting the axle and wheel helps push the front tyre wake away from the rear of the car.

This works in conjunction with the front wing endplate and overall will increase the car's aerodynamic efficiency.

WILLIAMS

While awaiting a new nose and front wing, Williams was able to run some new brake ducts and splitter vanes in Friday practice.

These are small details that were able to be finished between the first two races, whereas the nose and wing combination is expected to arrive last minute and be run on just one car for practice three as a test before the parts are raced in China.

Most notable of the new parts are the vertical fins projecting upwards from the front of the T-tray splitter.

These are the tallest vanes we have seen in this area, although we have seen other teams run triple smaller vanes in the same spot.

FERRARI

Small new details have appeared on the Ferrari, with minor updates to the bargeboards and the diffuser.

On the bargeboard set-up, the smaller separate black vane is changed to have an angled leading edge.

Then on the diffuser the already complex set-up of tiny winglets on the outboard corner has been complicated even further.

What was a two-by-two-element set of aero foil sections has had yet another section added below. These small devices help pull the airflow out of the diffuser for more rear downforce, as the flow through the diffuser gets pulled into the low-pressure region created by the vortices trailing from them.

Toro Rosso and Haas have similar treatments to their diffusers, for the same reason.

But these are small details and Ferrari is expected to bring more sizeable updates to the upcoming races.

RENAULT

A new front wing was brought to Australia and is also being run in Bahrain.

Outwardly the same as the old wing, raced throughout most of 2015, the new wing has only subtle differences.

These are focused on the area where the wing joins the centre section, the transition being broken up into more distinct separate elements than the old wing - which merged the elements into the centre section.

The effect of this is the wing will kick up a stronger y250 airflow. This key flow structure helps push the front tyres' turbulent wake from the bodywork to drive more efficient aerodynamics.

Outboard of this transitional area, the wing remains the same as the old format.

MANOR

Manor is another team with a new front wing from Australia being run in Bahrain.

Unlike the new wings elsewhere in the pitlane, the Manor wing is actually a little simple with less elements inboard near the centre section.

In its case, the wing aims to produce its load towards the tips, so the inner span isn't being worked as hard and the slot in the main plane is removed from the inner two thirds of the wing's span.