This weekend's Grand Prix in Emilia-Romagna was postponed due to the terrible flooding in northern Italy this week. Formula One said it made the call after consulting with Italian government officials out of concern for racer safety and to relieve emergency services of unnecessary stress. While the decision was understandable in light of the dangers presented by the territorial downpour, it may have stung several teams, especially Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren. At Imola, each of these three teams intended to unveil significant improvements to the vehicles that they would be driving. Ferrari intended to increase their downforce by altering the riding height of their rear suspension. Having it happen at Imola, the Italian team's home track made it that much more meaningful. In addition, McLaren had planned improvements to enhance their straight-line performance, which was severely exposed in Miami.
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Mercedes Major Upgrade Delayed
One of the biggest losers from the new regulations is Mercedes, whose dominance in the sport was ended by Red Bull. The Silver Arrows team, however, had the B-spec in mind as the most significant modification. At the outset of the new season, after a significant change in regulations, Mercedes made a disastrous design mistake. The team's thin side pods, which they had hoped would function as concealed weapons, disappointed.
The squad has improved greatly over the last year, and they are now serious podium contenders. They realised they needed more downforce but didn't want to give up ride control, so they upgraded the suspension significantly. This would represent an over 80 per cent improvement over the original W-14 design.
Why Teams chose Imola GP for Introducing New Upgrades?
These enhancements were very important for the teams at this time. Teams were prepared to make improvements after analysing data from the first five championship rounds. Doing so in the Emilia Romagna GP was crucial because it provides a more accurate evaluation of the success or failure of these upgrades. Imola's convenient location was another factor in the teams' decision to use that event to debut their new upgrades.
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Carrying new components to racing weekends incurs hefty transportation expenditures. To save travel time from their headquarters, teams often use European locations for introducing important modifications. The European portion of the event was set to begin with the Emilia Romagna GP. It was the first of three races in Europe, the others were in Monaco and Spain.
Due to Monaco's restrictions as a narrow circuit, the Spanish GP is the next possible location for the teams to deploy these alterations. This two-race postponement may be pivotal for the final constructors' standings. Mercedes is now third, with Ferrari fourth and McLaren fifth. The three most famous teams in the sport are now struggling to compete at the highest levels.
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