Uncovered: The W16 rear wing solution that contributed to Antonelli’s Sprint pole

Matthew Somerfield 03 May 2025 2:02 PM

Mercedes announced their first update of the season for the Miami Grand Prix, with a new rear wing upper flap installed on the W16 that helped Kimi Antonelli secure pole position for the Sprint.

Surprisingly there were a number of teams that announced updates for the Miami Grand Prix, with Sprint races not always proving a popular destination for the arrival of new parts, given there’s only one session to prepare the car for the entire weekend.

The first of many…?

Mercedes had not announced any updates on the car presentation documents in the opening five races of the season, with the exception of Australia, where all of the teams disclose what’s changed between this and last season anyway, with any updates added between pre-season testing and the first race absorbed into that list.

However, looking back through their submissions, it appears the W16 was unchanged for the first race in any event, with parts included in that initial pool at pre-season testing rotated and adjusted to suit the various tracks they’ve encountered.

And, given the brevity with which the team have to test and understand new components during a Sprint race weekend, it’s unsurprising that this, albeit their first update, is not a wholly new rear wing design being mounted on the W16.

It’s more of a nuanced development, with only the upper flap altered, whilst the rest of the assembly remains untouched. This has resulted in a modification to the camber of the flap’s profile, whilst the team have also removed the trailing edge Gurney flap to further meet their downforce and drag reduction needs.

Similarly, Aston Martin, another team who have been liberal when it comes to installing updates on their car this season, have a modified front and rear wing in Miami, whilst a new, single element, beam wing has also been added to the pool of available components.

Williams also have a new beam wing arrangement at their disposal, with a shorter chord element added to the roster of components available going forward, with the team utlising a bi-plane style arrangement in Miami.

Sauber continue to deliver a steady stream of updates for their car this season with an adjustment made to the front suspension fairings, which should work in concert with the updates that have already been added to the car in the preceding rounds of the championship.

Alpine also announced their first updates of the season, with new front suspension fairings listed in the car presentation document, which would work in conjunction with the revised front brake duct solution, which makes a trade-off between aerodynamic and cooling performance.

However, it appears having listed these items the team decided, given it was a Sprint race weekend that they’d hold off on using them, with them expected to reappear at Imola.

Mercedes