New front wing is here, but McLaren still hesitates

– McLaren continues to work on better understanding the behavior of the new front wing. The component, which had already been tested at the Canadian Grand Prix, was also used in a revised version at the Monaco Grand Prix. Nevertheless, the team decided again before qualifying to switch back to the previous specification.

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For McLaren, the new front wing holds special significance. It is intended to form the basis for a series of future developments. At the same time, the team wants to understand why the actual on-track performance has not yet fully matched the expectations from simulations.

Qualifying in Monaco was disappointing for McLaren. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris only secured grid positions seven and eight. The gap to pole-setter Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes was more than half a second. Team principal Andrea Stella explained, however, that the result was not entirely surprising given the known characteristics of the MCL40.

New Front Wing as Basis for Further Updates

According to the team, the new front wing was never intended as a major performance leap. Rather, it marks the beginning of a new development concept on which further aerodynamic updates are to be built.
“We want to understand a bit more clearly how the front wing behaves on track and how this behavior differs from the expectations in our development tools,” explains Stella.

In Monaco, the component’s behavior already approached expectations much more closely. “We are now very close to our expectations. Therefore, we are satisfied with the data collected. From this point on, we will begin to introduce further developments based on this new front wing,” said Stella.

McLaren Sees Further Development Potential

Aerodynamic development in Formula 1 generally takes place in small steps. New parts are therefore often tested individually before becoming part of larger update packages. According to the team’s assessment, the MCL40 currently lacks some peak downforce compared to its strongest competitors, especially Mercedes and possibly Ferrari.

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At the same time, McLaren continues to see potential for improvement in mechanical grip. This circumstance is partly related to designing the car to be as gentle as possible on the tires. However, since the current generation of tires has proven to be more robust than expected, this approach might now offer fewer advantages.

Further Updates Already in Preparation

McLaren expects to continue bringing new components to the track individually as soon as they are ready for use. The team wants to gain insights into the behavior of new parts as early as possible, as aerodynamics under the current regulations still offer great development potential.

“Here we used the new front wing in a slightly modified configuration. This is part of our learning process regarding the behavior of this new component, on the basis of which further developments for the upcoming races are being prepared,” explains Stella.

As it stands, the front wing will also be used again at upcoming events, while engineers collect further data and drive the development of the concept. The insights gained will then be incorporated into further aerodynamic updates.

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