McLaren and Mercedes headline upgrades for Canadian Grand Prix

The 10th round of the 2025 F1 season heads to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix.

It’s finely poised at the top of the F1 drivers’ standings, with just 10 points between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

McLaren have a comfortable lead in the constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari.

The Woking outfit are nearly 200 points clear of their nearest competitor already.

The development race rumbles on with a number of teams bringing new upgrades to this weekend’s race.

Out of the top four teams, McLaren and Mercedes have new upgrades.

There’s nothing from Ferrari or Red Bull.

What have McLaren brought to Canada?

McLaren are not resting on their performance advantage introducing, changes to their front wing, rear wing and front suspension.

In terms of the front wing, they’ve adjusted the geometry.

This has been done to “improve aerodynamic performance across a wide range of attitudes, through a redesign of main elements as well as introduction of ‘mermaid tails’ to the front wing endplate.”

With Canada a medium downforce track, they have a circuit-specific rear wing.

This upgrade will allow McLaren to have a “more efficient coverage of a larger drag range, suitable for multiple circuits.”

McLaren have updated their front suspension geometry which is a “small modification to the front suspension geometry which comes with an updated aerodynamic surface, to accommodate the geometry change and reoptimize local flow conditioning.”

Mercedes’ Canada upgrades

Mercedes have made a couple of minor tweaks to the W16 for this weekend.

Their first updated component is the floor corner to allow for better cooling.

Mercedes explained, “Increased front brake duct inlet and exit area to cover off high brake duty for this circuit.”

They’ve also changed the floor edge with a reduced chord wing element.

This has been done to “increase mass flow under forward floor and vorticity shed from the fence system, increasing floor load.”

Upgrades in the midfield

Aston Martin, Alpine and Racing Bulls have also declared upgrades for this weekend.

Like Mercedes, Aston Martin have also adjusted their front corner with a front brake duct with a larger exit to improve cooling.

At Alpine, they have a revised front wing to give them a better aero balance.

Racing Bulls have changed their front wing to improve the car's balance.

Explaining this change, RB said: “At lower rear wing levels, the car must be balanced with reduced front downforce. This reduced-chord flap allows the aerodynamic balance to be lowered beyond the minimum range achievable by the previous flap. It achieves this by reducing the load generated by the front wing at a given flap angle.”

RB have also revised the lower winglet endplate to “improve the quality and consistency of the shed vortex, which in turn increases rear downforce.”