Upgrades at the 2025 British GP have taken centre stage at Silverstone, where McLaren team has introduced a new floor and updated rear brake ducts in an effort to extend their dominant run at the top of the Formula 1 championship standings.
Arriving at their home Grand Prix with a 207-point cushion over their closest rivals, McLaren is showing no signs of easing up as the title fight reaches its halfway mark.
The latest evolution of the MCL39 is focused on increasing aerodynamic efficiency and extracting more performance from the car’s underbody.
The FIA confirmed McLaren upgrades to the MCL39 for the British GP: “The complete floor has been revised resulting in improved flow conditioning and a redistribution of suction to gain overall aerodynamic performance.”
The refined rear brake duct inlet is designed to not only improve cooling but also offer a subtle aerodynamic gain, a dual-purpose tweak that could prove vital on Silverstone’s fast, high-load layout.
With this update, McLaren aim to reinforce their credentials as championship favourites. Their aggressive approach to development has been a hallmark of their campaign, with every gain meticulously targeted to protect and extend their lead in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings.
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Silverstone becomes a showcase for technical innovation
The British Grand Prix has always been a favourite for teams seeking to roll out significant updates, given the circuit’s mix of high-speed corners and long straights. This year is no exception, as McLaren’s main competitors have also arrived with their own new components in pursuit of an edge.
Red Bull have responded to the pressure with updates to the floor of the RB21, targeting greater stability and consistency. By refining the underbody surfaces and introducing new floor fences, Red Bull aim to create a more stable pressure difference and a steadier suction effect throughout Silverstone’s challenging corners.
Aston Martin, based just across the road from the famous circuit, have brought a package that features changes to floor surfaces, fences and edges, along with new upper bodywork.
Fernando Alonso admitted the upgrade is less substantial than their Imola package but remains optimistic about its impact.
“Honestly it’s less than the Imola package, it’s a very minor tweak on the floor and nothing really too obvious—you will even not notice because it’s well underneath the car and it’s minor. Obviously, everything that we bring is welcome and we will try to exploit the package at its best,” Alonso said.
He added: “Imola also was not that big and it seems that it worked a little bit better than the numbers on the wind tunnel said, but I think it’s less than what we brought to Imola, let’s say that.”
Development race intensifies in the midfield
The fight for points in the midfield has inspired a wave of technical upgrades across several teams. Haas have made substantial changes to the VF-25 floor in hopes of overcoming high-speed instability that has limited their performance. Their updates include adjustments to the floor body, new floor fences, a smaller edge wing and a different sidepod inlet.
Ayao Komatsu, Haas team principal, explained, “It should give a bit more grip and a bit more stability—and that means confidence. It should improve both quali and race, but we’ll see. Hopefully it does what it’s supposed to do. We’ll just put it on Esteban’s car [for FP1] and then the idea is to have a comparison across the garage. And then all being well, we should update Ollie’s car for FP2.”
Other teams have not stood still. Racing Bulls have introduced a smaller-profile upper front wing flap in pursuit of more front-end performance without major changes elsewhere. Williams have focused on revised floor fences to generate additional downforce for the FW47. Sauber continues their iterative floor development, this time pairing it with a new front wing.
As the British Grand Prix weekend unfolds, all eyes are on practice to see whether these upgrades can disrupt McLaren’s momentum. With every team searching for fractions of a second, Silverstone’s technical arms race could prove decisive as the season builds toward its climax.
