F1 teams to trial new low-downforce wings at Spa
Numerous Formula 1 teams have brought lower-downforce wings in preparation for the Belgian Grand Prix in a bid to boost their straightline performance and top speed.

The Spa-Francorchamps is traditionally one of the lower-downforce circuits of the year, only eclipsed by Monza, which often requires a bespoke aerodynamics package to make the most of the car down the litany of straights.
Spa, however, has a few more lower-speed sections, requiring a little more downforce than Monza throughout the lap.
This means that aero packages for the circuit nestled within the Ardennes are generally a trimmed-out version of the configurations seen at Silverstone - another high-speed circuit.
The Haas team has taken this to an extreme, and the American outfit's VF-20 car was spotted in its garage on Thursday with a very low-downforce rear wing.
The upper element features Haas' traditional V-shaped cut-outs at the quarter and three-quarter points along the wing, but overall features a much shorter chord length to create a very slim element.
This is paired with the wing mainplane, which has been moved upwards to reduce the overall area of the wing, taking out a lot of the drag produced.
Haas appears to have retained the Gurney flap on the wing's rear edge, aiming to claw back a little of the downforce lost by making the wing smaller in size.
McLaren has made a few modest changes to the wing seen at Barcelona, raising the mainplane to shave off some of the overall drag produced by the wing geometry.

McLaren MCL35 comparison Spain vs Belgium
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The wing also looks set to run with a much shorter Gurney flap - the black trim on the trailing edge of the wing - to offset some of the drag produced without totally losing the bonus downforce that the flap generates.
At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, McLaren ran a different wing altogether, with the mainplane raised at the outboard edges to trim drag off the less efficient parts of the wing while retaining the majority of downforce.
This is a direction that Alfa Romeo has taken for one of its Belgian GP wing designs, adding a distinct spoon section to the centre of the wing to make the most of the area which generates the most downforce.
The trailing edge of the wing remains in a relatively normal configuration, featuring the V-shaped section in the centre to bleed off any turbulence produced by the DRS actuator housing.
But the leading edge is noticeably curved, sweeping up at the outboard ends to create a lower-downforce specification either side of the wing's centre third.
This offers the best of both worlds in offsetting downforce and drag, and the two different approaches by Haas and Alfa Romeo seem to be two ways of tackling the lack of power anticipated from the Ferrari power unit on the straights.

Alfa Romeo Racing C39 rear detail
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Related video

New Williams owners conducting “full review” - Russell
Hamilton not planning Belgian GP boycott amid US protests

Latest news
The danger for Red Bull in its Barcelona F1 team orders choice
OPINION: Red Bull walked into a team orders saga on its way to taking a Spanish Grand Prix 1-2 last weekend, where it took the lead of the 2022 Formula 1 world championships for the first time. But its decisions have added an element of risk to later races.
Why Mercedes' Spanish GP gains aren't as grand as they seemed
Mercedes' strong showing in last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix prompted team boss Toto Wolff to say it had halved its deficit to the leaders and its Formula 1 title chances were back on after a rocky start to the 2022 campaign. But a closer inspection of the team's performance suggests its gains aren't as grand as they first appeared
What's next for the Green Red Bull controversy?
From the 'pink Mercedes' to the 'Green Red Bull', the Silverstone-based team has received suspicious glares from up and down the Formula 1 paddock over its car design exploits. But after being cleared by the FIA over its Spanish Grand Prix updates amid a backdrop of cries of foul play, what's next in this saga?
Spanish Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2022
In an unusually hectic Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was denied a dominant performance by his Ferrari engine letting go which allowed Max Verstappen to pick up the pieces. But numerous flashpoints kept the race twisting and turning throughout, with one perfect score from an emerging contender
How Verstappen overcame his and Red Bull’s errors to win in Spain
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari engine disaster offered an open goal for Max Verstappen and Red Bull to strike, but the reigning Formula 1 world champion still had to solve multiple errors and profit from a begrudged assist from team-mate Sergio Perez, which created an unexpectedly eventful Spanish Grand Prix
Why Red Bull can win a Spanish GP that looked perfect for Ferrari
Formula 1's return to Spain on Friday ended with Ferrari leading the way from Mercedes, while Red Bull could only manage third fastest overall courtesy of Max Verstappen. But its chances of victory are far from remote with a deeper dig into the times despite Ferrari's strong start...
The key aspects of Porsche and Audi's planned F1 entries
The VW Group’s German superpowers of sportscar racing have all but confirmed they are coming to F1 when the next set of engine rules come into force in 2026. Here's why both manufacturers are all set to take the plunge, and crucially how it might work
How Vegas went from byword for F1 indifference to grand Liberty coup
Holding a race in Las Vegas – party central, a city of dreams and decadence and, yes, more than a smattering of tackiness – has been on Liberty Media’s most-wanted list since it acquired Formula 1’s commercial rights. But, as LUKE SMITH explains, F1 has been here before and the relationship didn’t work out