F1's social sleuths: The viral post that forced McLaren wing redesign

F1

It took just one fan to post a video on social media for Formula 1 to be engulfed in a storm, which ended in McLaren redesigning a rear wing. We speak to the content creator who started the sensational story off

McLaren rear wing social post

“People are really tweeting at Ferrari and the FIA as if either will notice”.

That dismissive response from one social media user was far from unique: when a video emerged showing the rear wing of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren flexing during last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, not everyone appreciated the effect it would have.

But the clip, posted on social media from public TV footage, showed something that had apparently been missed by millions. It set off a chain of events, amid a blizzard of coverage and debate, that led to McLaren redesigning its low downforce rear wing.

“Tell us you’ve only just started watching F1 without telling us”

That outcome came from a single social media post and may well hamper the pace of Piastri and Lando Norris on the high-speed straights of Las Vegas later this season. But it also points to the reality of modern F1 where fans can conduct their own real-time analysis, reference their doubts against the rulebook, and broadcast their findings worldwide. For good or bad, any misdemeanour overlooked by officials in modern grand prix racing can be pounced upon by observant, knowledgeable and vocal viewers around the world.

It doesn’t take long. The McLaren wing saga began less than an hour after the chequered flag in Baku when the @brakeboosted account on X/Twitter posted the following:

“I’ll leave this here @ScuderiaFerrari @FIA
“The entire DRS flap is rotating under load. You can see at the pivot points, the flap is not aligning with the wing tips.
“The flap is backing off at high speed, shedding drag. How is this okay?”

 

“This guy thinks he is Adrian Newey”, responded one user. And there were many more sceptics:

“You must be new here”

“Sour grapes mate…sour…grapes”

“Tell us you’ve only just started watching F1 without telling us”

“Bro really tagged the FIA expecting them to see it”

“My favourite aspect of it all is that people on social media think they might have spotted something that the FIA or the other teams didn’t.”

However, that final comment describes exactly what had happened. Up to that point, thousands of staff from rival teams and millions of viewers from around the world apparently hadn’t registered that, on the live TV feed, McLaren’s wing was flexing itself into a complex and grey area: reducing drag and increasing top speed on straights, while maximising downforce in corners. It was potentially breaching regulations set out by racing’s governing body, the FIA, despite being passed as legal under static tests.

From that single post, you could trace the growing storm as more and more users weighed in, including some McLaren fans piling scorn on the suggestion, while supporters of rival teams fanned the flames.

Rear view of McLaren in qualifying for 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP

The top section of McLaren’s rear wing was flattening under load, at speed, widening the gap between the lower section and reducing drag

James Sutton/Getty Images

@brakeboosted reinforced his initial comments with further posts quoting F1’s technical regulations, highlighting exactly why officials should be taking a closer look at McLaren’s set-up. As the volley of arguments went back and forth, the subject came to dominate post-race discussions.

X’s hive mind also accelerated the research, as fans trawled coverage from previous races — where the wing was also used — and identified flexing on the high-speed sections at the Belgian Grand Prix in July and the Italian Grand Prix just before Baku.

The paddock landed in Singapore for the following weekend’s Grand Prix, straight into the raging storm. “Of course I’ve seen the footage,” said Max Verstappen. “That’s the beautiful side of social media, right? Everyone has the video ready. And then, of course, a lot of discussion is made.”

Max Verstappen in press conference ahead of 2024 Singapore GP

Verstappen saw McLaren’s wing flexing on social media

Red Bull

Team principals echoed the talking points already made by fans and the FIA confirmed that it would be looking into the matter. Moments before Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was set to give his thoughts, an announcement was made: McLaren would be redesigning its low-downforce wing after discussions with the FIA.

If there was any doubt that social media was the instigator in this, Vasseur lamented the timing of the discovery, wishing that it had been seen and addressed earlier, effectively confirming that his team hadn’t previously been aware. “We all saw the video and the pictures of this,” he said. “It’s a bit frustrating when, if you remember perfectly the situation in Monza, we had five cars in two-hundredths of a second… In Baku, we arrived 10 laps in a row side by side [at] Turn 1. You can imagine that we have a bit of frustration.”

At the centre of it all was Brandon Becker, the 23-year-old South African Ferrari fan behind the @brakeboosted account who could barely believe his eyes.

“I was surprised that what I was seeing was actually happening”

“It was surreal,” he tells Motor Sport. “Knowing you have potentially altered the course of F1 and how these situations are dealt with for many more years to come was a surreal feeling. Knowing I’ve made an impact on the sport I’m so incredibly passionate about is astonishing.”

Becker tends to post about Ferrari news and car upgrades, as well as analysis of GP weekend sessions, which are typically seen by tens of thousands of users. The McLaren video was on a wildly different scale, and has racked up more than 7m views, although he stresses that he shouldn’t be given the credit for breaking the story.

In fact, his explanation reveals why we shouldn’t be surprised that an F1 regulation breach was spotted first on social media — and why it could keep happening in the future. Not to mention that some posters might deserve to be taken more seriously than they currently are.

Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri side by side in 2024 Azerbaijan GP

Leclerc said that Piastri’s top speed made him impossible to pass, even with DRS

Joe Portlock/F1 via Getty Images

The mystery of McLaren’s speed

In Baku, it was the McLaren’s top speed that Charles Leclerc couldn’t handle. Even with DRS activated, giving him a speed advantage, he couldn’t get near Oscar Piastri’s rear wing to challenge for the lead.

“I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce,” he said in the post-race press conference. “In the straights, they were very quick. In the corners, we were a bit quicker. When Oscar overtook me, I was like, ‘OK, now it’s just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres and overtake him again later on’. But actually, it was a lot more difficult than that. In the straights, I couldn’t get as close as I wanted.”

In a private F1 discussion group on X, the reason for Leclerc’s frustration was emerging. Away from the mud-hurling that’s all too-frequent on the public forum, it’s one of the groups where fans can interact with engineers and other experts, some with inside knowledge of F1, sharing and developing ideas in a depth beyond that of post-race TV shows.

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On this occasion, F1 journalist Matt Somerfield was the first to point out the flexing. “I am no expert,” says Becker. “Just a fan of motor sport who happens to have a slight interest in the technical side of the sport. The ‘abnormal’ behaviour of the wing was first noted by Matt on a group chat where fans, creators, technically educated students, journalists & people in and amongst the sport on a regular basis have discussions about all things motorsport.

“I then went and looked at onboard angles of the rear wing just to clarify, for my own interest, whether what I was seeing was indeed not a reflection that is playing on the eyes.

“I was quite surprised that what I was seeing was actually happening, not because what I was immediately convinced what I was seeing is against the rules, but rather that so few people have noticed it.

“Nowadays, fans are always trying to eagle-eye these things. Up until then, it was only really mentioned in the group chat.

“It escalated rather quickly from realising what I was seeing and creating the post. The details I included was really just describing what I was seeing in the footage, there was not much thought put behind it at this point.”

Overhead view of Oscar Piastri at the 2024 Italian GP

Further research showed more McLaren wing deformation in Italy

McLaren

Fans quickly filled Becker’s mentions with contrary explanations of optical illusions, or assurances that the mechanism was entirely legal. Initially, he replied to each one. That soon became unsustainable.

“Notifications didn’t stop coming through! Then once I saw major news outlets start writing and taking note of this mini DRS trick, my thoughts were, ‘maybe there is more to this’.

“The nature of this topic happens a lot on social media. Most of it noise, most of it never gains any traction, and I didn’t expect it to either. I was not set on receiving a response whatsoever. It was more of a fan-like reaction in the heat of the moment.”

“Content creators should be taken more seriously”

The raft of media articles, podcast discussions and TV coverage continued over four full days between the end of the Baku race and the first appearance of the drivers in Singapore. At that point, there was suddenly an official acknowledgement that the video was worthy of investigation.

“I had no idea it was being discussed amongst teams and the FIA at all until I read an article where an FIA statement was quoted regarding the use of flexible bodywork and that they’d be monitoring the situation,” says Becker.

A day later, McLaren announced its decision to redesign its low-downforce rear wing, following discussions with the FIA. It was a sensational outcome, considering the close margins between the front-runners, and the effect that even a small detail might have on the rest of the championship.

From Becker, however, there was no gloating: “If it has helped teams have a gauge on where to draw the line when it comes to flexible bodywork, you can consider me satisfied,” he says. “I’m just glad I got to have an impact. As a fan, I’d hope the outcome somewhat benefits the team I support.”

Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the 2020 Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton was handed a grid penalty in Austria, 2020, when an onboard video, highlighted on social media, showed him failing to slow for yellow flags

Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

The power of content creators

It appears to be the first time that social media has been so definitively linked to a car design issue, although teams have been aware of the power of crowdsourcing from their fans for some time.

In 2020, Red Bull successfully challenged Lewis Hamilton’s second-place qualifying result at the Austrian Grand Prix after a social media user alerted the team to new 360-degree camera footage that emerged after the session.

It showed Hamilton’s Mercedes passing a flashing yellow board on his final qualifying lap, which he should have slowed for. Stewards then penalised him for ignoring the warning with a three–place grid penalty.

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For some fans, the potential of assisting their team while getting one over on rivals on the highly-charged social media platforms is enough motivation to spend hours searching for the next scandal.

While that generates a lot of the noise that Becker mentioned, McLaren’s flexi-wing chapter shows that posts can’t always just be dismissed offhand.

“Content creators should be taken more seriously,” he says. “There are many accounts on social media where the person running them is qualified to be talking and educating people about these topics. Some of them currently work or have previously worked in and around motorsport; others that have every right to be sharing their input because the area of expertise is relevant to the sport. Never turn down an opportunity to learn something new.

The chance to learn, says Becker, is more a motivation for his posts than potentially helping Ferrari on its mission to win. “[Social media] is a place where as long as you are reasonable and respectful, you can come and have a discussion, whether it is with me or my community,” he says. “I am extremely fascinated by the technology that goes into the sport, the strategy. Everything about Formula 1 and Ferrari.”

For the sport’s sake, he says, he would like more transparency so that fans can understand what is going on, particularly with technical directives which are issued to teams to clarify a particular regulation but not made public. Becker doesn’t think social media accounts should have undue influence, however. “When it comes to technical regulations, I wouldn’t want fans to have too much say,” he says. “However in a unique case like this obviously there was a case to be made. I feel like there are many areas where they could be listening to the fans more, but I don’t think one of those areas should be in relation to the technical regulations. Leave that to the professionals.”

Even so, he’s well aware of the power that a single fan with a social media account can wield. “Something as insignificant as a butterfly flapping its wings,” he posted on the day that McLaren said it would be redesigning its rear wing.

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