FIA orders McLaren to modify its rear wing

Not worried about the legality of its front wing despite several complaints, McLaren did not slip through the net with its rear wing. As a reminder, in Baku, the on-board cameras mounted on the MCL38 ofOscar piastri showed significant deformation of the upper flap of the rear wing. At full load, the flap would collapse and allow the car papaya to reduce its drag, and even to benefit from a mini-DRS effect thanks to the lifting of the flap, before returning to normal at low load when cornering.

Broadcast on social networks, the images obviously did not escape the teams. It would seem that Red Bull went so far as to file a complaint with the legislature, demanding that clarification be made. A few days ago, the FIA ​​had communicated on the subject without targeting anyone directly but stating that it was taking the matter seriously. “The FIA ​​is currently reviewing the additional data and evidence from the Baku GP and considering possible mitigation measures to implement in the future. This is part of the standard technical legality review process, and the FIA ​​retains the authority to introduce regulatory changes during the season if necessary.”.

A spoiler not compliant with the TD

In recent days, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have consistently defended the legality of the part, while praising the engineers for their aggressiveness in the development race. In absolute terms, the two in-house drivers are not entirely wrong regarding the legality, as the McLaren wing has passed all static tests regarding the deflection of its wings. However, it seems that a technical directive (TD34) has been published and that this now offers a legal scope for the FIA ​​to intervene on the subject and ask McLaren to modify its wing.

The TD stipulates that they are considered illegal "designs whose structural characteristics are altered by secondary parameters, in order to produce on track a deformation characteristic different from that at rest during FIA controls". It is on this basis that the legislator decided to intervene, asking the Woking team to readjust its aim. For its part, the structure led by Andrea Stella issued a short press release in which it explained that it was behind the modification of its wing.

«Although our rear wing is compliant with the rules and has passed all FIA deformation tests, McLaren has proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following discussions with the FIA. We also expect the FIA ​​to have similar discussions with other teams regarding the compliance of their rear wings.” It remains to be seen whether the McLaren's performance will drop drastically or not.

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