McLaren says it’s delighted that mini-DRS controversy is distracting rivals
McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella is pleased that rivals are using valuable time assessing the legality of his car’s wing
Ferrari and Red Bull are in a frenzy about McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ drag-reduction wheeze
DPPI
As Oscar Piastri fended off the attacks of Charles Leclerc for most of the second half of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the rearwards-facing camera of the McLaren
got a lot of TV airtime. It was this which drew rivals’ attention to the behaviour of the car’s rear wing, inset.
The gap between the wing’s main plane trailing edge and the flap’s leading edge would expand as the underside of the flap bent upwards at the outboard ends. This expanding slot gap would have the effect of reducing drag at the draggiest part of the wing’s span. It was described as a ‘mini-DRS’ in principle. It was an ingenious demonstration of McLaren’s mastery of aero-elasticity. But was it legal?
The regulations deal with rear wing assemblies which rotate back (which this was not doing). They also specify how much deflection is permissible in the wing flap itself (7mm with a 500N load). But they make no specific mention of a flap’s underside flexing upwards. However, the slot gap must measure 10-15mm when not in DRS mode. Did the gap ever exceed that? Ferrari and Red Bull believe it did and had talks with the FIA technical boss Nikolas Tombazis in Singapore. Afterwards McLaren was informed by the FIA that it must display better control of the slot gap if that wing was used again.
But in the meantime, McLaren had enjoyed the benefits of it on three circuits – Spa, Monza and Baku – where low drag is especially valuable. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella responded with equanimity: “The legality of the wing is incontrovertible… but I find that so much attention on our rear wing is just good news, because it means that opponents are not focusing on themselves. And Formula 1 is such a marginal game.
“I keep repeating to my team, focus on yourself. So for me when I see that there’s attention from other teams, it means they will be doing work, doing analysis, they
will be talking to the FIA. There’s limited time and limited energy. They’re using this time and energy to chase something that I think is a red herring.
“For McLaren, that’s good news. We try to stay focused on ourselves, we want to come with technical solutions that may be challenging, but sound from a legality
point of view. If others want to get distracted, keep doing that, because for us, it’s just good news.”