With nine rounds left in the season, teams are overwhelmingly focused on their 2026 cars.
Aside from the teams travelling from race to race, most of the resources in the factories are on next season.
For Red Bull, 2026 not only requires a new aerodynamic concept, but also calls on them to produce their own engine.
This challenge has created a lot of trepidation about their chances in 2026, which will be their first year since 2018 without Honda power.
Of course, Laurent Mekies’ personnel still want to end this year on a high note. Their updates for this weekend are fresh evidence of this.
Red Bull aim to add performance to RB21
Since becoming team principal, Laurent Mekies has highlighted a series of priorities at Red Bull.
The first and most pressing is to improve the RB21’s performance. Not just in terms of pure lap-time, but also in terms of drivability and operating window.
Mekies emphasises that this also applies to Yuki Tsunoda.
For a substantial portion of the season, Tsunoda was not running the same specification as Verstappen.
This changed immediately when Mekies arrived in Spa, fitting a new floor on the Japanese driver’s car.
Speaking of which, Red Bull have a brand new floor for this weekend. This upgrade builds upon their most recent specification.
Although estimating how much an upgrade is worth (in terms of lap-time) is difficult, the Milton Keynes team will be cautiously optimistic.
Despite losing ground to McLaren in this year’s development race, the RB21 has still improved in absolute terms.
Their new floor specification, as an evolution of its predecessor, should generate additional load and downforce.
Adjustments in the camber distribution in the outward floor fence should improve the RB21’s airflow to the back of the car.
Upgrades elsewhere on the grid
Red Bull are not the only team with improvements this weekend.
Racing Bulls, who were arguably faster than their senior team last week, have a new floor in Monza.
Based in Faenza, it makes sense logistically for the Racing Bulls to have introduced a new component.
The VCARB 02’s floor underbody has been tweaked, again with the intention of increasing efficient load.
A new engine cover accompanies the updated floor, as the Italian team work to refine their aerodynamic efficiency.
Assuming these updates work, Hadjar and Lawson can once again look towards the points.
McLaren brought a series of modifications to Monza, but the majority are circuit-specific.
Their only pure performance upgrade is their new front suspension, which has reprofiled fairings.
At this stage of the year, the papaya squad are only making minor tweaks to optimise the MCL39.
Ferrari’s updates for their home race are also predominantly circuit-specific, though Fred Vasseur is optimistic about having a strong weekend in Monza regardless.
Mercedes, who recently reverted to an older suspension specification, also have a floor upgrade.
The W16’s floor fences have been tweaked to improve air flow, whilst changes specific to Monza have been introduced to the rear and front wing.
Monza is not necessarily a strong track for the Silver Arrows, so they will be weary heading into this weekend.
Main photo: Zak Mauger/LAT Images (Red Bull content pool)
