McLaren insist controversial F1 ‘flexi’ rear-wing isn’t the “secret sauce”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has insisted his team’s controversial flexible rear-wing isn’t the “secret sauce” behind their success in the 2024 F1 season.

McLaren’s rear wing was in the spotlight after Oscar Piastri’s starring victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

His impressive straight-line speed allowed him to overtake Charles Leclerc before defending from the Ferrari driver for well over a dozen laps.

Footage on social media was brought to the attention of a number of teams and the FIA.

It was announced during the Singapore weekend that McLaren, following discussions with the FIA, were happy to make a “small modification”.

The rear wing in question is only set to be used at low downforce tracks, like Las Vegas, with Lando Norris dominating last time out at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, without this rear wing.

Speaking to The Times, Brown assessed the drama surrounding the rear wing.

“Whoever’s winning, everyone’s always staring at the car to understand what they’re doing,” he said.

“It’s totally natural that people are staring at our car at the moment and then coming to conclusions, a lot of them incorrectly. We’ve passed every single test.

“We offered to make a small modification, just because we don’t think it will make much of a difference and there’s a lot of noise around it - so to demonstrate that there’s no secret sauce, we were like, ‘Well, we’ll modify it slightly.’”

Brown completely understands why McLaren’s rivals are complaining about it - even if they were wrong.

“They [rivals] wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they weren’t making noise,” Brown explained.

“It’s a compliment that people are looking at our car and challenging. We’ve got good innovation on our car.”

Heading into the United States Grand Prix, McLaren sit comfortably clear at the top of the F1 constructors’ championship.

They’re on course to win their first teams’ title since 1998.