McLaren wing not illegal for FIA

(Motorsport-Total.com) – The large mass of Formula 1 fans who turned off their televisions on Sunday afternoon after the race in Baku probably didn’t even notice: On X, Instagram & Co., after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the hardcore community on the Internet passionately discussed whether the McLaren that Oscar Piastri won with was legal or not.

The bone of contention was once again the so-called “Flexiwings” phenomenon, i.e. the twisting of aerodynamic wing parts under load at high speed. Users posted alleged evidence photos of the McLaren rear wing and wrote comments such as: “McLaren has an active DRS, even when there is no other car in front of them”, “That’s a bit more than flexible” or “This shit is not legal”.

What is striking is that such comments were predominantly made by accounts that can obviously be attributed to fans of Red Bull Racing or Max Verstappen, and strictly speaking, they use illegal screenshots that violate Formula 1’s copyright, which is why we cannot show the images as part of our reporting.

Why some fans suspect illegal tricks at McLaren

But what can be seen in the photos is something every user can F1 TV You can also watch the various onboard feeds and draw your own conclusions. And if you do that, you will notice that the outer edges of the McLaren’s rear wing main plate do indeed bend when very high speeds are driven – for example during the start-finish line.

Specifically, the images show that the lower outer edges of the uppermost rear wing flap on the McLaren are pulled upwards at high speed. This opens a gap between the upper and lower flaps, which some fans refer to as the illegal “DRS effect”. A phenomenon that can be observed to a similar extent on the Red Bull, for example.

At first glance, this contradicts the 2024 Formula 1 Technical Regulations, which define in Article 3.2.2 (“Aerodynamic influence”) that “all aerodynamic components or body parts that affect the aerodynamic performance of the vehicle must be rigid and immobile with respect to their […] reference frame must be attached”.

Technical regulations provide for tolerances

But this article includes tolerances that are defined in article 3.15 (“Flexibility of aerodynamic components”). It states, for example, that a rear wing flap may move horizontally by a maximum of seven millimeters under a load of 500 Newtons. A final tolerance that is checked by FIA officials during static tests.

In addition, Article 3.15.2 (“Linearity of load/twisting”) defines that the twisting of aerodynamic parts can only occur linearly. Saying: If a rear wing flap moves by seven millimeters under the FIA ​​standard load of 500 Newtons, but by more than 14 millimeters under a (untested) load of 1,000 Newtons, then strictly speaking that would also be illegal.

The fact is: Despite the excitement on social media, the FIA ​​​​does not plan to intervene in the 2024 season due to flexible wings. The association confirmed this at the request of Motorsport.com Netherlands, a sister publication of Motorsport-Total.com in the Motorsport Network, clarified the matter and thereby refuted the suspicion of illegal tricks at McLaren.

In its statement, the FIA ​​​​said: “All of the front wings we tested passed all of the tests” and that “no changes are planned before the end of the season.” This is especially true since no other team lodged a protest after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after which the issue was hotly debated by some fans. The race result is therefore official.

How the FIA ​​​​observed the “Flexiwings”

But it is also true that since this season the FIA ​​​​has been paying increased attention to the topic of “Flexiwings”. Recently, additional cameras have been used that are aimed at the wings in order to be able to track their flexibility even more precisely. This is done with the help of optical reference points that have to be glued or painted onto the wings.

For example, on the McLaren, there are black dots and on the Ferrari, yellow dots, which are precisely targeted by the FIA ​​cameras. These dots are intended to help determine aerodynamic flexibility more precisely by drawing reference lines in the digital video recordings. If the dots move unusually much in relation to these lines, something must be wrong.

© Giorgio Piola (Motorsport Network)

Optical reference points are intended to make monitoring easier for the FIA

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But even in the course of this process, the association has not registered any abnormalities at the past Grands Prix that would require action to be taken. McLaren is not the only team whose rear wing flaps are opening. This effect is clearly visible to the naked eye in other teams as well.

Even at Red Bull. Perhaps this is one reason why Christian Horner is not at the forefront when it comes to pointing the finger at McLaren. Rather, he says: If such solutions are deemed acceptable by the FIA, “then that naturally encourages us to pursue similar solutions ourselves.”

It was Horner’s Red Bull team, of all teams, that cried out loudly in the final stages of the 2021 World Championship that Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes rear wing was illegal. And Red Bull itself was the first team to be found to have “flexiwings” a few years ago, prompting the FIA ​​​​to formulate the stricter regulations.

A Formula 1 car must not be illegal just because individual parts of the wing move. There are tolerances for this in the stress tests that are set up, which are precisely regulated in the technical regulations. And even if it looks like it, some teams use this effect more than others: no wing has failed the FIA ​​tests so far this season.