After the stir of the rear wing flap seemingly opening during the Azerbaijan GP for McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari have criticized how the wing flexes, bending the edges and opening the slot gap, which doesn’t comply with FIA regulations. Which then came into an end Thursday evening of the Singapore Grand Prix when the FIA requested McLaren to modify its rear wing.
According to German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, the motorsport governing body has directed the constructor’s championship leader to modify the rear wing at two precisely defined points.
The decision came after official inquiries by Red Bull and Ferrari, where they raised concerns after videos surfaced online showing the flap bending at high speeds in such a way that a gap opens even with DRS not activated, reducing drag and increasing the top speed on the straight.
Red Bull said that the trick could worth a net one to two tenths, and pointed at a suspiciously small speed difference between closed and open flaps, it being 12km/h, 8km/h below the values of the competition.
The FIA initially saw no problem with the wing, saying that it passed all of their static load tests, and that McLaren had no significant advantage compared to the competition.
What would’ve been the next deployment of the contested rear wing is during the Las Vegas Grand Prix, however Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports that McLaren will not use this wing during the weekend.
The British outfit has responded to the claims, insisting that the rear wing passes all FIA tests, and that the team offered to make the adjustments in response to the FIA’s inquiry. They also stated that the FIA would also probe into other teams in regards to their rear wing flexing as well.
“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.”
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez initially responded to claims of the McLaren’s woes on Thursday, stating that the Milton Keynes-based team were ‘pretty surprised’ with the initial decision on the MCL38’s rear wing “Yes, it sounds like it. I think it’s clear that it’s out of the regulations and it’s an [unintelligible] car. So, yes, pretty surprised with it.
“Also, they’ve done a few races with that rear wing on. But nothing did happen.”
Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said initially that the rear wing was ‘controversial’.
“Yes, definitely dialogue that we have already had. I think Fred will go on that matter a bit more in detail, but of what I’ve been told, it’s controversial, to say the least.
“So, I’ll leave that here and I’ll let Fred comment [on] it a bit further.”
