– McLaren will use a new rear wing at the upcoming race in Spa-Francorchamps this weekend – however, it will not be the infamous Macarena version that was already tested in Austria before the deployment of the flap wing was postponed indefinitely.
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“We are bringing a new rear wing to Spa – a planned upgrade that is part of our regular development plan,” confirms Neil Houldey, McLaren’s Head of Engineering. “We are confident that this update will bring us forward in terms of driving performance.”
However, there is also a warning against having too high expectations. The update is only a targeted one before a more comprehensive package is expected in Hungary. Additionally, in Silverstone, they were far behind the competition from Ferrari and Mercedes and despite the problems of Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen shortly before the end, they could not make it to the podium.
“After the difficult weekend in Silverstone, where we simply lacked pure pace, it is clear to us that nothing will be given to us in Spa either. Therefore, we do not expect any major shifts in the balance of power for now,” says Houldey.
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The biggest concern of the engineers is energy management on a track characterized by endless straights and very few hard braking zones: “The Belgian Grand Prix is one of the trickiest tracks in the entire calendar in terms of energy efficiency. We are preparing for massive superclipping, which will push both man and machine to the limit,” he says.
Added to this is the infamous Eifel weather in Spa: “We expect very changeable conditions. Although driving in the wet always carries a risk, we see it as a real opportunity,” Houldey continues.
“We finally want to run the car in the rain to better understand its behavior with extremely low grip. This could provide us with invaluable data for the rest of the season.”
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