This season, Silverstone's team has been following Red Bull, but tyre management issues have made its vehicle less competitive in races than in qualifying, hurting its chances of beating Ferrari and McLaren.
In the early stages of the campaign, Fernando Alonso praised a "aggressive" development effort to enhance issues. For the Japanese Grand Prix, the team's AMR24 has a Red Bull-influenced sidepod redesign and floor improvements.
Whether the changes were for performance or tyre deterioration, Alonso said: "They are linked. More downforce will reduce tire degradation. We've been active with automotive development. We got a new front suspension item in Jeddah, a front wing modification in Australia, and another package.
Every race we've driven a different car, which is a nice hint of our objective this year—aggression off track. Last year, we realized that starting well and not modifying the car enough hurt in the second half of the season.
"Hopefully, our second half is stronger than our first this year. We'll see. "Red arrows illustrate the new sidepod's swage line in the top forward corner of the bodywork in Suzuka pitlane photos.
This feature was observed on the Red Bull RB18 and RB19 and spread to other cars as those teams adopted downwash ramp-style bodywork. The contouring changes airflow in this region, improving interaction between the sidepod's flank and top surface. The gulley's length, transition, and shape were also changed.
There have also been adjustments to the floor's edge wing and rear floor deck. The team eliminated the rear floor cut-out and employed a smooth edge transition to build the back deck portion, like its competitors. The edge wing is now more twisted behind the straked section (blue arrow), and the floor geometry on the upper surface and possibly more importantly the underfloor has changed.
The rear edge wing, which had previously snaked beneath the rear floor cutout, is now folded over into a tapering tip that matches the floor's edge. The AMR24's span-wise twist distribution of the upper two flaps was changed in Japan after the Australian Grand Prix, which introduced a new front wing. This flap profile alteration also required the team to remove a metal support bracket from the center of the lower flap.
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