Formula 1's summer double-header opens at Spa this weekend, and the update war has already started. McLaren is the most visible mover, bolting on a new rear wing while keeping its heftier package in reserve for Hungary.
Neil Houldey, McLaren's applied engineering technical director, played down what the change can do so soon after a flat Silverstone showing. "We're arriving at Spa with a new rear wing assembly, an upgrade we've had in the pipeline as part of the car's development pathway," he said, before warning that "even this round won't be that easy." The team is also running the third-spec Mercedes engine, and Houldey singled out the venue as the real hurdle, calling Spa "one of the most energy-starved tracks on the calendar."
Mercedes has no such performance worry. Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers' standings and the team is clear at the top of the constructors' table, but Toto Wolff is frustrated at races slipping away. "There is no value in having the pace if we don't bring home the result," he said. "We have left too much on the table recently."
At the other end of the paddock, Aston Martin is simply trying to get through it. Honda's Shintaro Orihara confirmed the new power unit is still "two more races" away, landing at Zandvoort rather than the current double-header. That leaves Lance Stroll expecting "probably the worst circuit of the year for us," while Fernando Alonso insisted the Hungary upgrade "cannot be the last one." With McLaren and Aston both eyeing Budapest, Spa looks like a weekend to survive — unless Mercedes finally converts its speed into the points it keeps mislaying.
