Force India's long-awaited 'B-spec' Formula 1 package was the headline technical upgrade introduced during Friday practice for the British Grand Prix.
The Silverstone circuit demands strong aerodynamic performance, so this is a key point of the season to introduce new chassis developments.
While nearly every team has brought detail updates, the key developments came from Force India and Manor, while Ferrari brought a change in direction to its front-end aero philosophy.
FORCE INDIA
The VJM08 appeared at its home grand prix with its unique ducted nose, new wings, cooling, sidepods and suspension geometry.
After finding the correlation between its windtunnel and reality was diverging last year, Force India embarked on a new aero programme in Toyota's Cologne tunnel.
Because this has involved starting up a new project, coupled with FIA restrictions on aero testing, the results have taken time.
It's been six months since the first runs in Cologne, but there have only been 10 weeks of actual testing.
Still running with a 50 per cent scale model carried over from its smaller Brackley windtunnel, Force India's results from the programme are encouraging.
Some (smaller) updates have already been phased onto the 'A-spec' car, showing the correlation has improved, and now the introduction of the full 'B-spec' has met with the team's high expectations.
Of all the changes to the car, it's the ducted nose that's caught the most attention.
Called the 'vented-cobra' by the team (nostril-nose to those outside it!) the ducting provides a pragmatic solution to improve airflow over the back of the car without the necessary resources to develop a proper short nose.
To make the ducts legal within the single open section rule in the technical regulations, the internal shape of the ducts are carefully designed to overlap.
Lotus used a similar workaround to create the snowplough splitter under its twin-tusk nose last year.
Although outwardly similar to the old nose cone, the new design is a completely new nose in its structure and the detail of the shape.
Now the bulk of the crash structure is formed by a long cone, which appears as the bridge between the two through-ducts, with the outer sections and wing mounting pylons still structural, but secondary to the central structure.
The front wing and front turning vanes are also new, both taking inspiration from Red Bull's recent designs.
In the mid-section, the two rollhoop cooling inlets feeding the ERS water cooler have been removed. The cooler is now sited within the sidepods, rather than above the gearbox.
This change has allowed the top body to be dramatically slimmed, forming a thin exposed shark fin over the top of the car and a narrow coke bottle shape.
This change in turn necessitates a revised rear wing mounting, which is wrapped tightly around a lower exhaust tail pipe.
Mechanically the car benefits from new rear suspension geometry, which works in conjunction with the hydro-mechanical rear suspension system introduced at Barcelona. A similar system is intended for the front end of the car, but has yet to be introduced.
After time was spent investigating set-up options with the new package on Friday, the car is already operating above the performance of the 'A-spec' car, so pace for the remainder of the weekend and in Hungary should be strong.
The team plans to introduce further wing and floor updates for August's Belgian GP.
MANOR/MARUSSIA
Manor is still running a lightly-updated 2014 Marussia car, having originally planned to build a definitive new car to take advantage of the 2015-spec Ferrari power unit, which has worked so well for Sauber.
However, the team has now decided to hold off on introducing a completely new car until next season and instead introduce some updates to the current design.
For Silverstone the MR03B has new rear bodywork and a new floor. These parts were designed as part of a planned 2014 upgrade.
The result is a slimmer rear bodywork section, the coke bottle area being much tighter and with neater cooling outlets formed in its flanks.
Early indications are the changes are an improvement and both cars will continue to run them for the rest of the weekend.
FERRARI
In its chase to close the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari appears to have taken some inspiration from its rival with its new front-end aero set-up.
Both the shape of the SF15-T front-wing profile and the camera mounts are similar to the post-Chinese GP W06.
While the slimmer camera mounts are easy to identify, changes to the front profile of the wing are more subtle, but are far more importance to performance.
Just as Mercedes switched the profile to a distinct square-edged arch near the wing tips, Ferrari now also has an arch, but with a more rounded shape.
Along with this change in the outer profile, the wing also loses the vane on the endplate, but gains a new vane on the cascade wing.
These changes - as with so many front wing detail updates - are mainly about directing air around the front tyre to improve airflow at the rear, rather than directly creating downforce at the front of the car.
Correspondingly, the aero at the rear has been altered. The most noticeable change is to the rear brake ducts, where the vane forming the leading edge of the assembly is now vertically split into two parts, rather than being a single surface.
Force India's long-awaited 'B-spec' Formula 1 package was the headline technical upgrade introduced during Friday practice for the British Grand Prix.
The Silverstone circuit demands strong aerodynamic performance, so this is a key point of the season to introduce new chassis developments.
While nearly every team has brought detail updates, the key developments came from Force India and Manor, while Ferrari brought a change in direction to its front-end aero philosophy.
FORCE INDIA
The VJM08 appeared at its home grand prix with its unique ducted nose, new wings, cooling, sidepods and suspension geometry.
After finding the correlation between its windtunnel and reality was diverging last year, Force India embarked on a new aero programme in Toyota's Cologne tunnel.
Because this has involved starting up a new project, coupled with FIA restrictions on aero testing, the results have taken time.
It's been six months since the first runs in Cologne, but there have only been 10 weeks of actual testing.
Still running with a 50 per cent scale model carried over from its smaller Brackley windtunnel, Force India's results from the programme are encouraging.
Some (smaller) updates have already been phased onto the 'A-spec' car, showing the correlation has improved, and now the introduction of the full 'B-spec' has met with the team's high expectations.
Of all the changes to the car, it's the ducted nose that's caught the most attention.
Called the 'vented-cobra' by the team (nostril-nose to those outside it!) the ducting provides a pragmatic solution to improve airflow over the back of the car without the necessary resources to develop a proper short nose.
To make the ducts legal within the single open section rule in the technical regulations, the internal shape of the ducts are carefully designed to overlap.
Lotus used a similar workaround to create the snowplough splitter under its twin-tusk nose last year.
Although outwardly similar to the old nose cone, the new design is a completely new nose in its structure and the detail of the shape.
Now the bulk of the crash structure is formed by a long cone, which appears as the bridge between the two through-ducts, with the outer sections and wing mounting pylons still structural, but secondary to the central structure.
The front wing and front turning vanes are also new, both taking inspiration from Red Bull's recent designs.
In the mid-section, the two rollhoop cooling inlets feeding the ERS water cooler have been removed. The cooler is now sited within the sidepods, rather than above the gearbox.
This change has allowed the top body to be dramatically slimmed, forming a thin exposed shark fin over the top of the car and a narrow coke bottle shape.
This change in turn necessitates a revised rear wing mounting, which is wrapped tightly around a lower exhaust tail pipe.
Mechanically the car benefits from new rear suspension geometry, which works in conjunction with the hydro-mechanical rear suspension system introduced at Barcelona. A similar system is intended for the front end of the car, but has yet to be introduced.
After time was spent investigating set-up options with the new package on Friday, the car is already operating above the performance of the 'A-spec' car, so pace for the remainder of the weekend and in Hungary should be strong.
The team plans to introduce further wing and floor updates for August's Belgian GP.
MANOR/MARUSSIA
Manor is still running a lightly-updated 2014 Marussia car, having originally planned to build a definitive new car to take advantage of the 2015-spec Ferrari power unit, which has worked so well for Sauber.
However, the team has now decided to hold off on introducing a completely new car until next season and instead introduce some updates to the current design.
For Silverstone the MR03B has new rear bodywork and a new floor. These parts were designed as part of a planned 2014 upgrade.
The result is a slimmer rear bodywork section, the coke bottle area being much tighter and with neater cooling outlets formed in its flanks.
Early indications are the changes are an improvement and both cars will continue to run them for the rest of the weekend.
FERRARI
In its chase to close the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari appears to have taken some inspiration from its rival with its new front-end aero set-up.
Both the shape of the SF15-T front-wing profile and the camera mounts are similar to the post-Chinese GP W06.
While the slimmer camera mounts are easy to identify, changes to the front profile of the wing are more subtle, but are far more importance to performance.
Just as Mercedes switched the profile to a distinct square-edged arch near the wing tips, Ferrari now also has an arch, but with a more rounded shape.
Along with this change in the outer profile, the wing also loses the vane on the endplate, but gains a new vane on the cascade wing.
These changes - as with so many front wing detail updates - are mainly about directing air around the front tyre to improve airflow at the rear, rather than directly creating downforce at the front of the car.
Correspondingly, the aero at the rear has been altered. The most noticeable change is to the rear brake ducts, where the vane forming the leading edge of the assembly is now vertically split into two parts, rather than being a single surface.
