Video: How F1 teams tackled Monaco

The Monaco Grand Prix presents a special challenge for Formula 1 teams each year, as it's one of the only races where drag can be sacrificed for pure cornering performance.

Last weekend that played into the hands of down-on-power Red Bull, which was able to showcase cornering performance and enjoy its strongest weekend of the season.

Frontrunning team Mercedes also had downforce to add last weekend, though. Over the winter it changed its rear-wing set-up (2014 version: 0-5s in video), switching to a single mounting pillar for the first race of the season (6s), which is lighter and more aerodynamically efficient.

Like most teams, Mercedes runs a 'monkey seat' winglet below the rear wing (15s) - technically known as a Y100 wing. For Monaco, it fitted the largest configuration of this winglet (24s), which is made up of six elements mounted between large endplates.

There are two aerofoil elements above the winglet (26s), pointing slightly downwards to direct airflow to the wing below. Directly above the exhaust there is the first of two pairs of aerofoils (32s), with the second set mounted behind (37s).

The monkey seat works with the exhaust flow to direct airflow upwards under the rear wing (39s). This creates an upwash that allows the diffuser to be more effective and enables the team to run a steeper rear wing without stalling - generating more downforce.

There are plenty of more standard changes that all teams made to their cars last weekend, ones that have become a Monaco tradition.

Naturally, teams were chasing maximum downforce, and that meant maximum wing angles at the rear (8s) and on the front flaps (14s), which will be the largest versions the teams have.

The lack of straights means that brake cooling can be an issue (20s) - as we saw (and heard on the radio) with Lewis Hamilton during the early stages of the race.

Another change teams always have to make for Monaco is to make sure their cars have enough steering angle to get around the tightest corners (26s).

Teams will alter the steering rack and upright to get more lock, and some will have had to trim their wishbones to allow the wheel to turn to the maximum angle.

And the final, perhaps most obvious change that every car was sporting in Monaco was an increased ride height (32s), to allow for the uneven nature of the public roads.