The race to develop next years cars started some time ago, with teams running  their CFD and wind tunnel programs in tandem with this years developments.

However, in the last few races several teams have started using this years car as a real world baseline to better understand concepts they may want to carry over.

McLaren have been particularly proactive in this respect, with numerous tests being conducted during Free Practice 1 in Austin and Mexico.  These tests centre around a developmental front wing design, that the team are using to establish how the airflow may be altered given the dimensional changes of the bodywork and tyres in 2017.