Austin upgrade round-up: Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren bring new parts, Mercedes stands still

Who brought what

The 18th round of the season has turned into an unusually busy development weekend at Circuit of the Americas. According to PlanetF1 and Crash.net, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Racing Bulls all arrived with new parts, and Crash.net adds that Alpine, Audi and Cadillac have upgrades too. Mercedes, by contrast, has nothing new for the second weekend in a row.

Ferrari's SF-26 gets four changes: a revised floor body, floor board, sidepod inlet and diffuser. Red Bull has a new front wing with an extra vane on the endplate and foot plate, meant to add load and help manage tyre surface temperatures, plus a changed front corner. McLaren introduces the first phase of a larger package for the MCL40, with revised front corner components and a new diffuser. Racing Bulls bring revised front and rear wings, a new floor body and a revised engine cover. Haas, Aston Martin and Williams have no upgrades.

A small step, or not?

Ferrari's drivers have played the update down. Lewis Hamilton said: "We have a very, very small upgrade this weekend. It's less than a tenth. It's like half a tenth." The Race, which looked at the team's submission to the FIA, describes the declared changes as extensive in performance-critical areas: reshaped board braces and front floor leading edge, a reshaped sidepod inlet and undercut, and a revised diffuser volume with changes to the fence loading and outboard trailing-edge elements. Ferrari's stated aim is more floor downforce at both ends of the car and better flow stability toward the rear.

Red Bull's second change is about durability. The new front corner alters the profile of an elastomeric gaiter to reduce the risk of tearing and strain at full lock, which matters at the Turn 11 hairpin.

The first read on track

The Friday results give only a partial picture. In second practice Charles Leclerc was fastest, 0.042 s ahead of Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes that runs the same specification as in Singapore. McLaren's drivers were seventh and eighth with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri. Chief designer Rob Marshall told Formula1.com the team was "pretty happy", that the test items seemed to work and that a scrappy low-fuel run hid the true pace, while cautioning that it is "always very difficult to tell" after one day. Norris was less upbeat and called the situation "just difficult".

What it means

The timing matters. Max Verstappen won the last two races, in Malaysia and Singapore, and Red Bull is aiming for a third straight victory. In Singapore our race data shows Verstappen won by 7.335 seconds from Leclerc, with Antonelli third. Ferrari wants to turn Friday's pace into a result on Sunday, while McLaren is looking for a way back toward the front.

Qualifying is on Saturday and the race starts at 20:00 UTC on Sunday 25 October.