23/05/2025 12:00
McLaren and Red Bull have both brought small upgrade packages to the Monaco Grand Prix in a bid to stay ahead in the F1 title fight. Max Verstappen is now within 22 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri following his win at Imola last time out - with Red Bull bringing a big package to that race to improve the RB21. For Monaco, teams seldom bring huge upgrade packages, owing to the difficulties in implementing it on the streets, and the danger of crash damage destroying the new parts. Ahead of this weekend, teams have largely delivered only circuit-specific new parts, such as high downforce rear-wings or increased brake ducts to improve cooling. But McLaren and Red Bull have brought minor performance boosts. For McLaren, it is a front suspension geometry upgrade, designed to aid in the "unique cornering challenges" presented in Monaco. At Red Bull, a rear wing has been added to the car in the hope of adding more aerodynamic load at low-speed to aid performance. Elsewhere, Alpine has brought a minor front-suspension tweak along the same lines as McLaren, with Williams also following suit - and name-checking the Monaco hairpin as a reason for its change. Article continues below. Haas's upgrades The only team to buck the trend is Haas, with an upgrade package. It concerns the rear of the car mainly, with a new front-wing design hoping to add further load. The rear wing is of a circuit-specific design, and piles on downforce and creates drag, which is not a consideration in Monaco. A beam wing is also new to the car to work in tandem with the rear-wing itself. A front-suspension change is also available to Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.
