Toto Wolff concedes F1’s Spanish Grand Prix flexi-wing technical directive proved there’s no “magic bullet” in Formula 1, as McLaren topped every session on their way to a 1-2 result.

Nine races into the F1 2025 championship, the long-awaited front wing flexibility technical directive came into play at the Spanish Grand Prix.

TD018 was not the gamechanger many had predicted

The front wing is one of the most crucial aerodynamic elements of an F1 car, directing airflow across the rest of the chassis.

It’s an area that teams exploit to reduce downforce and improve the car’s speed.

TD018 saw the introduction of more specific and rigorous front wing static load tests at round nine, the Spanish Grand Prix. The allowable deflection during static load testing was reduced from 15mm to 10mm, while the permitted bend in the front wing flaps was down from 5mm to 3mm.

It was widely tipped to be a gamechanger that could alter the course of the F1 2025 championship.

“We are working on it for ages now and this can be a gamechanger for everybody,” said Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur, “because we don’t know the impact on every single team of the new regulation.”

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Red Bull’s Christian Horner, meanwhile, spoke of a “significant change, and so of course there’ll be some effect”.

There wasn’t, at least not when it came to the timesheets in Spain.

Championship leaders McLaren continued to be this year’s pace-setters as they topped every session, including a front row lock-out in qualifying and the 1-2 in the Grand Prix.

The Woking team not only extended their lead in the Constructors’ Championship to 197 points, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also pulled clear of Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings with the Australian taking a 49-point lead over P3.

It raises the question, why was the technical directive so hyped up when in truth its impact was negligible?

Wolff put that down to the fabled magic bullet.

“I mean, maybe sometimes, sometimes we try to believe that there is a magic bullet in Formula One that’s going to solve everything,” the Mercedes team principal told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “But it’s not the case.”

Horner, however, believes the five-month warning that the FIA gave the teams before implementing the clampdown on flexible front wings allowed those exploiting the regulations to pre-empt the change.

“I think it was neutral,” said Horner. “I think there’s been enough time for teams to get their head around it.

“I think for us, it was a very, very minor impact, a slight characteristic change, but nothing.

“It’s a change for everybody, and I think people have had time to adapt and pre-empt it.”

As for McLaren, who saw their advantage in the standings grow in Spain, they’re happy if their rivals continue searching for that one key trick that some of them believe McLaren are using to gain their on-track advantage.

After all, as long as they’re searching for the unicorn, they aren’t focused on what really matters.

“It doesn’t faze us,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.

“They can keep looking; there’s nothing to find other than the men and women and McLaren developed a really good race car. They’ve done a great job.

“There’s no silver bullet somewhere in the race car, but if teams think there are, and that where they want to spend their timing looking for it, hey, the more time they want to spend trying to find something that’s not there versus developing their own car, quite frankly, is a good use of their time as far as we’re concerned!”

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