McLaren looks set to achieve its first Constructors’ Championship since 1998, but the outcome could have looked very different if they didn’t use a controversial part according to one Red Bull engineer.
With them entering Abu Dhabi with 581 points to McLaren’s 640 points, Red Bull is now consigned to finishing third in the Constructors’ title battle which is the lowest they have finished since 2019.
McLaren worked wonders to improve their car this year, introducing an upgrade at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that transformed their season and kickstarted a streak of podiums and wins for Lando Norris.
The team would later face scrutiny heading into the Singapore GP over their rear wing design, after rival teams spotted something amiss with onboard footage from the previous race in Azerbaijan.
Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache believes the trick ‘Mini DRS’ wing played a big role in McLaren’s impressive mid-season form, and wonders whether the outcome of the title battle would be different if they were forced to take it off earlier when speaking to RacingNews365.NL.
Pierre Wache questions whether Constructors’ title battle would be closer without McLaren Mini DRS
Rival teams spotted McLaren using the trick rear wing when examining footage from Oscar Piastri’s car in Baku, noticing the upper flat of the wing pivoted upwards and opened the DRS slot gap by a few millimetres whenever he reached a straight.
The FIA inspected the wing and ordered McLaren to take it off in Singapore, following a protest from rival teams. Red Bull later claimed that it was adding at least two-tenths per lap to McLaren, which could have a massive impact on a full race distance.
Even though McLaren claimed that it was only effective on low-downforce circuits, Wache believes the wing was used at more races than they claimed and contributed to their advantage.
“These cars are difficult to develop. There are always grey areas, but that also attracts you as an engineer. But if you look at McLaren’s rear wing, sorry, but that’s more than operating in a grey area,” said Wache.
“They have also used that wing for several races. Without that rear wing earlier this season, for example, they won’t win in Baku either and if you list that, the constructors’ championship would now also look very different.”
Why didn’t the FIA penalise McLaren for their Mini DRS wing?
McLaren’s rear wing passed all of the deflection tests required by the FIA but did not meet the requirements in the Technical Directive issued to teams regarding its design.
Rear wings must meet a maximum deflection amount and not deform under high loads, but teams felt McLaren’s design did not confirm to this agreement.
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis explained the reason the governing body chose not to disqualify McLaren was because their wing passed all the tests, so therefore it was legal under the letter.
Teams agreed that part of the Technical Directive, which is not available in the public domain, offers some grey area in how flexible they can be applied only to front wings and even that can’t be done intentionally.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown praised his team’s ingenuity in coming up with the design, while Alpine’s Oliver Oakes also gave them support. But they were eventually forced to take it off, which impacted them at tracks such as Las Vegas.
