McLaren Racing technical director Neil Houldey has revealed that the updated technical regulations on flexi wings will not affect the MCL39 F1 car’s performance. Following the Australian Grand Prix, Formula One‘s governing body, the FIA, introduced stricter norms surrounding the rear wing, limiting the level of flexibility from 2mm to 0.75mm. This change will be applicable from this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
There has been much discussion on how the flexing of the rear wing can add to the performance by creating a mini-DRS effect. The FIA is said to have taken immediate action by updating the regulations after looking at certain wings in Melbourne. McLaren’s rear wing was under the scanner after the onboard camera showed it flexing at high speed during the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
However, McLaren driver Lando Norris confirmed that the team does not need to make any changes this time in the wake of Technical Directive TD055A. He said:
“We don’t change anything, ours is fine. In fact, ours is probably too good, and we are probably not pushing the limits enough, honestly.
“So no, already if this technical directive was applied for last weekend, we’d also be fine so it’s not directed at us – it seems it’s directed at other teams.
“Which probably means we need to push it a little bit more.”
Speaking along similar lines, Houldey confirmed today that the FIA’s updated regulations had no impact on McLaren’s rear wing. He said:
“We were lucky when we tested in Melbourne and the numbers that the FIA chose to put in the TD are higher than the deflection that we’d seen, so it’s had absolutely no impact on us at this event. The performance should be no different for us.”
He added:
“So yeah, the expectation is that again we’re not going to be losing performance from the TD as we go further into the season either.”
When asked if the team could have redesigned the wing within a week if it hadn’t complied with the regulations, Houldey said:
“We would certainly struggle, so it’s fortunate that we were in the position that we were and didn’t have to make any changes.
“I don’t know how other teams have managed it, but maybe there are setup changes that they’ve been able to make that don’t require new components or maybe they’ve had to make something incredibly quickly to get it here and become legal.”
Houldey was then asked if it was McLaren’s other wing, likely the low downforce version, that caught the FIA’s attention, he said:
“I don’t think so. I think when you look at some of the footage and some of the images from testing, there were certainly teams that were pushing the boundaries on slot gap opening more than us. So no, I don’t think it was that wing that gave them enough interest to do anything.”
The post McLaren Issues Key Update as FIA Cracks Down on Flexi Wings Before Chinese GP appeared first on Newsweek.
