Why McLaren sees only “good news” from its flexi rear wing controversy

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella thinks it is a good thing that rival teams are complaining about its car – because this shows they are distracted from their own efforts.

The Woking-based team has found itself the centre of attention since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix over what has become known as its ‘mini-DRS’.

The team appeared to have designed its low-drag rear wing in such a way that the upper element cleverly flexed back to help open up the slot gap – delivering a drag reduction and therefore straightline speed boost.

While the rear wing fully complied with the FIA’s static load tests, its behaviour upset competitors who felt it was pushing the boundaries of the regulations too much.

Following discussions with the FIA, McLaren agreed to make modifications to reduce the flexibility which was seen to be present on its cars in the Belgian, Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix.

And while the tweak will mean McLaren losing whatever advantage it got from its design when that specific low-drag wing returns at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Stella is far from disheartened about what has happened.

In fact, he says he actually takes heart from competitors paying so much attention to what his own squad is up to.

Asked for his thoughts on the matter, Stella said: “I find that so much attention on our rear wing is just good news, because it means that opponents are not focusing on themselves.

“Formula 1 is such a marginal game. It’s so complicated. I keep repeating to my team: ‘Focus on yourself’.

“So for me, when I see that there’s so much attention from other teams, it means that they will be doing work, they will be doing analysis, they will be talking to the FIA…

“They’re using this time and energy to chase something that I think is a red herring. So for me, as McLaren, that’s just good news.

“We try to stay focused on ourselves. We want to come with technical solutions that may be challenging but totally sound from a legality point of view. If others want to get destructive, keep doing that. Because for us, it’s just good news.”

FIA response

Although McLaren remains convinced that its wing design is fully legal, the team says that it agreed with the FIA to make changes because it did not want the controversy to blow up any more – and it also hoped this would prompt the governing body to also look at what…