TECHNICAL: Mercedes reveal heavily-modified floor and further key changes for the Belgian Grand Prix

As teams packed out their cars for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, it has emerged that Mercedes will run a brand-new floor this weekend as the team continues its development push at Spa.

Recent rounds saw Mercedes bring a raft of updates in a bid to improve their troubled W15 amid an aggressive development push. The persistent work saw the German-British team enjoying a resurgence in performance after a disappointing start to the campaign.

George Russell capitalised on a collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to score an unlikely win in Austria, following on from back-to-back podium finishes for the team in Canada and Spain. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton won the subsequent British Grand Prix, having shown impressive speed both in damp and dry conditions.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the summer that his team has been planning to bring upgrades “almost to every race”.

For this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes brought a total of five upgrades. The most visible update revolves around the floor that has gone through key changes compared to the previous version.

The floor edge has been heavily revised as it now features an additional flap element over the forward section of the edge. The new element “drops the local pressure behind the fence system which in turn increases forward floor load.”

The expansion of the floor that is referred to as diffusor has also been altered, albeit the team called these changes “subtle”. The roof section now features an increased camber compared to the previous assembly which should “increase local flow acceleration which in turn increases local downforce and drag.”

All these changes indicate that Mercedes are confident that generating more downforce with the floor will not induce bouncing that hindered the car’s behaviour when the sport switched to the ground-effect cars.

The floor wing has also been updated. The team claims that the reduced chord and camber reduces the load generated by the front wing which was necessary to achieve a sensible car balance with the low-downforce rear wing.

As for the rear wing, Mercedes have opted for a different approach compared to their direct rivals. While Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull went for a spoon-shaped main plane, the leading edge of the main plane of Mercedes’ rear wing is linear.

In turn, the outer section sports a prominent concave curvature as it connects to the endplate of the wing.

While the three other leading outfits opted for a cut-out on the trailing edge of the flap element, Mercedes’ upper edge is linear.

For the high-speed Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the team has also revised the beam wing. The modified single-element beam wing has been designed to reduce “local downforce and drag” which is suitable for tracks like Spa.

The Brackley-based outfit has also introduced a new halo fairing which does not feature the flap element. The change should help the team reduce “local downwash which in turns reduces drag by altering the onsetflow to the rear of the car.