F1’s governing body has told McLaren to modify its “mini-DRS” rear-wing after an appeal from Red Bull.
Oscar Piastri executed one of the drives of the year to take victory last weekend in Azerbaijan, overtaking pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and retaining the lead to take the win.
Yet footage from McLaren’s rearward-facing onboard camera raised questions from teams up and down the paddock about the legality of the wing, with many liking it to a “mini-DRS.”
The footage shows the top aspect of the rear-wing rotating back at speed on the straights, with this change in attitude opening up the slot gap for less drag and boosting top speed.
Ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the FIA released a statement confirming that they are “closely monitoring” the situation and now they have made their call.
It is understood the FIA has requested for changes to be made to prevent the upper element of the wing flexing in the manner it has.
McLaren, in response, released the following statement: “Whilst our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and passes all FIA deflection tests, McLaren have proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following our conversations with the FIA.
“We would also expect the FIA to have similar conversations with other teams in relation to the compliance of their rear wings.”
The doubt surrounded whether deliberately designing a wing to flex in this manner goes against the FIA’s guidance.
In technical directive (TD34), the FIA state that it does not consider legal “designs whose structural characteristics are altered by secondary parameters, so as to produce (whilst running at the track) a different deflection characteristic than when stationary during the FIA checks. Examples of secondary parameters could be temperature, aerodynamic load etc.”
DRS – which stands for Drag Reduction System – gives cars within one second of the car in front a speed boost, opening the adjustable rear wing which reduces drag.
The amount of extra speed varies depending on wind speed, the length of the straight and local conditions. However, it tends to give cars an extra 15 km/h (9mph) of top speed.
It was introduced in 2011 to aid overtaking but will be removed from the next generation of F1 cars in 2026, instead replaced by an “active aerodynamics” system.
Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris trails championship leader Max Verstappen by 59 points heading into this weekend in Singapore.
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