Formula 1 Racing

Why McLaren losing ‘mini-DRS’ is not the game changer its rivals hoped for

Why McLaren losing 'mini-DRS' is not the game changer its rivals hoped for

McLaren’s decision to go ahead and modify its rear wing design to remove its ‘mini-DRS’ concept has been a huge talking point at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.

With F1’s title battle between the Woking-based squad, Red Bull and Ferrari hotting up and so little separating them, any small tweak in each of their performance profiles could have a big impact on the final outcome.

But while it seems that McLaren’s rivals have scored an early win in forcing the FIA’s hand to get involved in the rear wing matter, the reality is that the end result will not actually change much over the final stages of the season.

Low drag configuration

What is critical to understand about the row over McLaren’s rear wing is that this is not a design idea that has been on the car since the beginning of the season – nor indeed something that was ever going to run at every race.

The ‘mini-DRS’ was an idea that appears only to have been introduced at the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break, and was only ever planned to be utilised at low downforce/drag circuits.

It was something that was specifically engineered into what is known as its low-drag wing, rather than being an idea that was utilised on its other downforce level specifications.

At the Singapore Grand Prix, for example, McLaren is using its high-downforce wing, which does not feature the concept. The FIA’s intervention will therefore have zero impact on how it performs around the Marina Bay circuit.

In McLaren’s official documentation from Spa relating to the wing choice used in Baku, McLaren had said: “In anticipation of high isochronal circuits, a less loaded rear wing assembly is introduced for this event, with the aim of reducing drag efficiently.”

That wing has been used in Belgium, Monza and Azerbaijan – with examination of onboard footage from each of those races showing the same upper element flexing that many only became alerted to last weekend.

What is bad news for McLaren’s rivals in their hopes that losing the ‘mini-DRS’ benefit would dramatically impact the squad’s title push is that the wing was only ever likely to return at one other venue this year – the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The long straights on that circuit demand a return to a low-drag configuration. The rest of the season of the season can be divided up into medium downforce (Austin, Brazil, Qatar and Abu Dhabi) or high downforce (Singapore and Mexico) levels.

This means that…

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