McLaren took the constructors’ championship away from Red Bull for their first title since 1998, and have also now left their rivals furious on the eve of the new season.
Last year looked like it would be another Red Bull whitewash as Max Verstappen swept four wins through the first five rounds. Only a brake failure in Melbourne interrupted that streak, with Carlos Sainz returning from appendicitis surgery to win the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
Verstappen even won seven Grands Prix plus two F1 Sprint events across the first 10 rounds. Yet after Lando Norris won his first Grand Prix in Miami in round six, the tables were starting to turn as McLaren moved into title contention thanks to the upgrades they raced in Florida.
McLaren were often the team to beat after Norris’ debut victory, with the Briton going on to win in the Netherlands, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Also, Oscar Piastri won his first Grand Prix in Hungary and again in Azerbaijan to help McLaren claim the constructors’ title off Red Bull.
Red Bull left furious as FIA issues flexi front wing clampdown amid pressure from McLaren
One of the upgrades that helped McLaren the most came from utilising the scope within the technical regulations regarding flexible front wings. In unlocking more yet legal aeroelasticity in their wing, their balance between grip in slow corners and high-speed stability improved.
But, on the eve of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the FIA has issued a clampdown and reduced the deflection allowed whilst changing front wing load tests. The directive will start in round nine at the Spanish Grand Prix, with teams able to run wings to the previous guidelines first.
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According to AutoRacer, the FIA’s flexi front wing clampdown has left Red Bull furious having begged the governing body to act amid their 2024 title fight against McLaren. But as the FIA did not act, Red Bull invested a lot of time and money developing a flexi front wing for 2025.
The clampdown comes after McLaren above all backed the FIA changing the rules on flexible front wings, despite being one of the teams to benefit the most. Multiple teams think it was due to pressure from McLaren with the papaya crew fearful of Ferrari that the FIA has acted.
Like Red Bull, Ferrari did not jump on the flexi front wing bandwagon early like McLaren as it was believed in Maranello that the FIA would outlaw them sooner. Instead, the Scuderia did not bring their version of a flexi front wing before Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix.
What changes has the FIA made to flexi front wings in the 2025 F1 season?
Ferrari developing a flexi front wing helped the Scuderia to eclipse Red Bull and end 2024 in second to McLaren by just 14 points in the constructors’ championship. Yet Red Bull did not follow suit with their own flexi front wing in 2024 as they had other issues to focus on fixing.
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But Red Bull believed they could catch up with McLaren and Ferrari over the winter, to only discover in January that the FIA has now decided to clamp down on flexi front wings. So, F1 teams must now develop new designs to meet the latest regulations in time for round nine.
The FIA has given teams until the Spanish GP on June 1 to design new front wings as the flex allowed is reducing from 15-10mm. As 2025 is also the final year of the existing rules before F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations, some teams planned to run their wings from 2024.
