Major blow for McLaren as FIA intervenes against 'mini-DRS' inducing rear wing

The FIA has intervened following much discussion from McLaren's rivals over its 'Mini DRS'-inducing rear wing, ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend. The Woking-based outfit's rear wing design was called into question after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Oscar Piastri was able to defend from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc for over 30 laps on his way to a race win in Baku last weekend.

Many noticed that the lower element of the low-downforce rear wing rotating created a hole to enable the driver to reduce drag on the high-speed corners. This allowed the Aussie to get the margin he needed to defend from the Monagasque on a 2 km-long start-finish straight at the Baku City Circuit.

Ahead of the Singapore GP weekend, FIA put out a statement that they were monitoring the rear wing element of the MCL38. Now the sport's governing body has instructed McLaren to modify its low-downforce rear wing.

One report says the bend of the flap edges on the straights will not be allowed despite the elements passing the FIA's static tests. Although the British team or the governing body has not put an official statement informing the same.

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Red Bull and McLaren bosses butt heads over "mini-DRS"

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner while speaking about McLaren's flexi wing, said he was "happy" with if it passed the static test conducted by the FIA.

Speaking before the 2024 Singapore GP with Sky Sports, Horner said (via Crash.net):

“Obviously it passed the test. As long as the FIA are happy… Well, it sets a precedent. We don’t want to rush to design wings that deform like that. If it’s deemed okay then everybody will do the same.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown responded to his counterpart's claims and added that the element had passed the test:

“He’s spot on. It has been passed by the FIA. These Formula 1 engineers are very clever. [Red Bull] have had awesome race cars for the past decade. It has passed the test. Good on our team for coming up with something that is high-performance.

"It has passed every single test. It’s clever engineering. The FIA is fine with it, so it’s business as usual. It’s inevitable now that we’re leading the championship that everyone will look at our car and say ‘We don’t like that’. That’s the nature of the game.”

The Woking-based team has gone past Red Bull in the constructors championship after scoring 38 points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend and now leads the reigning world champions by 20 points. McLaren has scored 476 points to Red Bull's 456 with seven races and three sprints remaining this year.