{"id":32762,"date":"2025-04-11T05:23:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=32762"},"modified":"2025-04-11T05:25:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:25:54","slug":"f1-news-bahrain-gp-upgrade-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/11\/f1-news-bahrain-gp-upgrade-list\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: Bahrain GP Upgrade List"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The Bahrain GP sees the first major upgrades of 2025 being introduced, as teams visit a familiar circuit in Sakhir<\/h2>\n<p>A phenomenal weekend from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/06\/honda-hope-for-another-opportunity-to-work-with-max-verstappen\/\" target=\"_self\">Max Verstappen<\/a> reminded the field of Red Bull&#8217;s title credentials, heightening the focus on this weekend&#8217;s upgrades.<\/p>\n<p>With resources in modern F1 limited by wind tunnel restrictions and a budget cap, there is no margin for error with development.<\/p>\n<p>It is with this mentality (especially given the fast-approaching 2026 regulations) that several teams introduce updates in Bahrain.<\/p>\n<h4>McLaren<\/h4>\n<p>Unlike other front-runners, McLaren&#8217;s approach to development since Miami last season has been to introduce small updates incrementally &#8211; rather than a single large package.<\/p>\n<p>Their single upgrade for the Bahrain GP, a new front brake inlet, is a continuation of this trend.<\/p>\n<p>The papaya team&#8217;s intention is to make marginal improvements to airflow and aerodynamic efficiency with this upgrade.<\/p>\n<p>At a circuit that should suit <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/11\/lando-norris-responds-to-verstappen-claims-about-the-mcl39\/\" target=\"_self\">the MCL39<\/a>, McLaren will be confident regardless of the upgrades elsewhere on the field.<\/p>\n<p>For their part, Andrea Stella&#8217;s engineers should have more upgrades ready in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32575\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32575\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32575 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/2208787599-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32575\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lando Norris in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Peter Fox\/LAT Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Ferrari<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/07\/hamilton-reveals-ferrari-have-uncovered-issue-with-his-sf-25\/\" target=\"_self\">Ferrari&#8217;s upgrade package<\/a> is comfortably the biggest of the weekend, with the Scuderia bringing 5 performance updates.<\/p>\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Floor fences (performance)<\/li>\n<li>Floor body (performance)<\/li>\n<li>Floor edge (performance)<\/li>\n<li>Diffuser (performance)<\/li>\n<li>Rear wing (performance)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is no secret that the SF-25 has fallen short of expectation to start the season.<\/p>\n<p>This has sparked an instant reaction from Maranello, who are hopeful of a significant step forward with their latest package.<\/p>\n<p>Not only should Ferrari&#8217;s new floor deliver more aerodynamic efficiency and downforce, but it will also determine whether the team have a strong enough platform to hunt down McLaren.<\/p>\n<h4>Red Bull<\/h4>\n<p>Two upgrades arrive to the RB21 this weekend &#8211; a new front wing (performance) and cooling louvres.<\/p>\n<p>Having made a step forward with set-up last weekend, Red Bull are optimistic about their chances in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>They don&#8217;t expect any massive progress in Sakhir, instead aiming to consolidate their baseline from last weekend and establish a wider operating window moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>Their new front wing should further improve the RB21&#8217;s balance &#8211; which will be especially important for recent signing Yuki Tsunoda.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"yha9cJRlTa1GtdpUEU_kkg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2209697244\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'yha9cJRlTa1GtdpUEU_kkg',sig:'r6az3m1EuZQJclU1vozZAWJFHVOsJRv2EijeoBONeqM=',w:'594px',h:'398px',items:'2209697244',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>The rest of the field<\/h4>\n<p>Elsewhere on the grid, there are no upgrades to speak of for the Bahrain GP.<\/p>\n<p>In many cases, this was already expected. Haas, for example, put an immense amount of effort into bringing a new floor for the Japanese GP &#8211; once again demonstrating their efficiency under Ayao Komatsu.<\/p>\n<p>This update had an instant impact with Oliver Bearman, and Haas will look for further confirmation this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/04\/07\/honda-we-will-have-our-say-on-aston-martin-driver-line-up\/\" target=\"_self\">Aston Martin<\/a> are expected to bring their first upgrades to the AMR25 over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Their priority, as outlined previously on LWOS, is to calibrate their new wind tunnel and ensure their correlation is accurate &#8211; which is crucial ahead of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>No major changes for Mercedes and their W16, which could struggle in the high temperatures of Sakhir.<\/p>\n<p>The Brackley-based team&#8217;s are more likely than any of the front-runners to prioritise 2026 development early &#8211; so it&#8217;s worth keeping an eye on this space.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the likes of Sauber, Alpine and VCARB should bring their first updates in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bahrain GP sees the first major upgrades of 2025 being introduced, as teams visit a familiar circuit in Sakhir A phenomenal weekend from Max Verstappen reminded the field of Red Bull&#8217;s title credentials, heightening the focus on this weekend&#8217;s upgrades. With resources in modern F1 limited by wind tunnel restrictions and a budget cap, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":32763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2520,2452],"class_list":["post-32762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-bahraingp","tag-f1-2025-season"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32762"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32767,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32762\/revisions\/32767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}