Different teams — different approaches to upgrading equipment.

      During the first part of the 2025 season the main trends in teams’ approaches to upgrading their cars, which affected the balance of power in the championship, became quite clear. Experts at The Race attempted to analyse them.

      Since the regulations remained stable and radical reforms are scheduled for 2026, teams did not make major changes to the construction of last year’s chassis and instead used a targeted approach to developing new parts.

      The most extensive upgrades were introduced by McLaren and Ferrari, given that at the end of 2024 their cars had been the most competitive. But while the team from Woking still leads in all areas, Scuderia Ferrari has not managed to achieve the expected performance from its SF-25.

      McLaren

      From the start of the season the MCL39 allowed McLaren’s drivers to set the pace: their advantage became apparent already in Melbourne. The team’s approach was clear: they avoided risky choices and introduced only specific technical novelties that guaranteed a speed gain.

      An example of this approach is the decision not to use the diffuser tested in Saudi Arabia. That version of the diffuser was tried in first practice in Jeddah and was never used in races thereafter. Moreover, that was the only notable upgrade that appeared on the McLaren in the first quarter of the season.

      The first significant upgrades were prepared only for the Canadian and Austrian rounds; these were primarily revised bodywork elements around the front and rear suspension. They improved the quality of the airflow directed to the floor and made the chassis more stable overall.

      At Silverstone the MCL39 received an improved floor, which increased stability through high-speed corners and further strengthened McLaren’s already considerable advantage.

      Thus, the team did not prepare upgrades for every race, but that was their strategy in the previous two seasons as well. Instead, they used a surgically precise approach that improved the efficiency of a car that was already fast.

      Red Bull Racing

      If McLaren’s task was simply to refine an excellent project, Red Bull encountered difficulties and, it seems, lost the right trajectory, since they have not yet managed to overcome them.

      The RB21 is only a slightly revised version of last year’s RB20, and the car had balance problems from the outset: it suffered from chronic understeer, which led to handling issues.

      While Max Verstappen was still able to achieve respectable results in it, his teammates — first Liam Lawson and then Yuki Tsunoda — were clearly uncomfortable behind the wheel.

      The most noticeable upgrades appeared on the car immediately after the preseason tests — a new nosecone and front wing — but both were developed during the winter. Afterwards, Milton Keynes limited themselves to minor refinements to the engine cover and the floor, the most notable being the upgrade package introduced in Imola, when radically revised sidepods appeared on the RB21.

      But the car was never efficient enough for Verstappen to regularly contend for wins and fight for another title.

      Ferrari

      The most notable innovation on the SF-25 was a front suspension based on linkages. But this solution complicated matters and made the car’s floor work less effectively. The team could no longer run aggressive setups and was often forced to compromise to avoid excessive wear of the skid plank under the floor.

      During the chassis development the focus in Maranello was on two areas. In Bahrain and later in Austria revised floor versions were introduced, and improvements were made to the rear suspension, which increased the car’s stability under braking.

      It was that latter solution, introduced ahead of the Hungarian round, that proved most effective and made the car’s behaviour more predictable.

      Although Charles Leclerc took pole at the Hungaroring, in races the team has to adopt a conservative approach, including increasing tyre pressures and rarely using maximum engine power modes. Because of this the benefits of the technical upgrades have not yet been fully realised.

      Overall Ferrari achieved certain chassis improvements, but it is not enough to genuinely challenge McLaren. Maranello has now made a strategic decision: there will be no significant technical upgrades for the rest of the season, as the team fully switches its resources to preparing for 2026.

      Mercedes

      When Formula 1 returned to using ground effect in 2022, Mercedes immediately ran into trouble. Primarily this was because the team could not achieve a sufficiently accurate correlation between simulator calculations and the real on-track picture.

      The current W16 chassis is no exception, although this car is more predictable in its behaviour compared with its predecessors. Yet it still lags behind the rivals’ machinery in efficiency.

      Problems reappeared in Hungary, where the team had to abandon the new rear suspension introduced in Imola because it did not provide a consistent speed gain.

      The team has not developed any substantial upgrade packages, apart from occasional refinements to the front wings and periodic adjustments to the geometry of brake cooling ducts and floor elements.

      Overall, the W16 is more or less the same as it was at the opening round in Australia. The car only works efficiently under certain combinations of external factors, and there is a sense that its development programme is not delivering the results the team expected. Now all of Mercedes’ resources are already directed to the 2026 project.