McLaren tipped to lose key advantage amid F1 flexi-wing clampdown
Could McLaren be hurt the most from the FIA's fresh clampdown on F1 flexi-wings?
McLaren have been tipped to lose a key advantage amid a clampdown on flexi-wings ahead of this weekend’s F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
F1 teams will face tougher tests aimed at restricting the flexibility of rear wings, starting at the second round of the season in Shanghai this weekend.
F1’s governing body the FIA had already announced they were clamping down on wing flexing for the 2025 season in response to the so-called ‘mini-DRS’ controversy last year.
Stricter tests had already been introduced for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and the FIA has decided to bring in additional testing after observing the rear wings on cars in Melbourne last weekend.
All teams were informed of the incoming changes on Monday and were in compliance with the tests carried out in Australia, the FIA say.
According to former F1 driver Johnny Herbert, McLaren could stand to lose out the most from the clampdown.
“McLaren had a lot of issues with the rear wing falling backwards,” Herbert told CasinoAppsThatPayRealMoney.com.
“It's a very thin edge at the back of the back of the wing, which is called the trailing edge and it's that that is obviously flexing around. What that does is the DRS flap goes from three millimeters and then it opens up to about 50 millimeters or whatever. There's a big gain.
“There's a gain with this, but it's probably, it's much, much smaller, but it's still a gain and it's a flex that I would presume everybody's starting to work on, which goes back to what happened in Azerbaijan with McLaren last year.
“It's popped its head before and this is a directive to stop that flex where there is a slight performance gain. It could be giving a kilometer gain, for example, and a kilometer is a kilometer, and if it's in a racing situation it's harder to pass something that's going one kilometer faster than you are because it's more efficient, it's less drag that it's creating.
“So it will go faster in a straight line than someone else would be able to potentially achieve, better than others, but there’s always going to be a team that all the other teams are going to be looking at, they’re always looking at each other and saying, well, they've got an advantage.
“If there is an advantage down the straight from this wing, they're gaining that advantage and that's what they will look into, and then they will have a word with the FIA, then the FIA will look into it, which is why the cameras were put on the cars in Australia. If they've deemed it to be an issue, they’ll tighten up that loophole, so to speak.”
McLaren doing a better job than rivals
Lando Norris claimed an impressive victory in treacherous wet conditions at Albert Park to kick-start his F1 title bid in perfect fashion, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
That came after McLaren had dominated qualifying and locked-out the front-row of the grid, backing up their pre-season title favourites tag.
Herbert continued: “It did come up with McLaren last season so it has been something that has been looked at before but I think the FAA, with their checks they did in Australia, they've gone ‘OK we've given you 20 millimeters, we're now not going to give you anything.’
“Whenever you read the rules there's never supposed to be any flexibility but you can't make anything completely and utterly rigid. It's impossible to do that. But what they can do is try and tighten up those little performance gains that are there.
“Does it make any difference to the show? Potentially it can because one team may be able to benefit more than another so the other teams will also try and close that loophole to stop that team from gaining an advantage with the car that is the one that is everyone is racing against and this time around it’s the McLaren.
“So it’s a typical situation. Other teams are trying to stop someone having an advantage over them, full stop. Is it the right thing? I don't have a problem with it being tightened up.
“Are McLaren doing things that the other teams haven't done at the moment or are they pushing the limits? No, this is just part of what Formula 1 is always about and they've done the better job.”
Further tough tests on front-wing flexing are set to be introduced from the Spanish Grand Prix, the ninth round of the 2025 season.
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