"Now it's the front wing's turn": Red Bull fires shots at McLaren as the rival's mini-DRS rear wing solution gets outlawed

Red Bull's Helmut Marko has fired shots at McLaren and claimed that after the team's rear wing, the Austrian squad has set its sights on the front wing as well. The Woking-based squad is at the center of attention this season after what has been a remarkable turnaround of sorts. They have jumped to the front of the grid.

The season began with McLaren being 4th fastest in Bahrain, but since the team's major upgrade in Miami, a lot of things have changed. They have usurped Red Bull as the fastest car on the grid and have seen both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight near the front.

However, the flexi-wing topic has also re-emerged because McLaren's front wing raised suspicions for rivals, with Red Bull being the most vocal. Marko had talked about this earlier when he stated that the team's front wing needs to be looked at.

After review by the FIA, the wing was deemed legal but in the subsequent race in Baku, clips surfaced on social media with McLaren's rear wing flap partially opening on the straights and acting as a mini-DRS. In a recent development, the rear wing will have to be modified by the Woking-based team as the governing body has stated that the flap should not open.

Red Bull's chief advisor, however, is not willing to let this go so easily, as he now wants the FIA to look again at the front wing. He told ORF that now the team is gunning for the front wing as well. He said,

"Three times we protested against McLaren's rear wing. Today the FIA made a very correct decision. The rear wing is not allowed. Now it's time to look at their front wing."

How McLaren's rear wing got outlawed

As reported by AMuS, McLaren's rear wing had passed the flexibility test, and hence FIA did not see any reason to intervene. There was, however, one regulation where things went against the team, and it stated that the gap between the top and bottom flaps should remain the same at all times (when the DRS is disengaged).

This was one ruling for which the team had no explanation. As a result, the team is now forced to make changes to the rear wing. The report from AMuS states,

"The FIA initially saw no reason to act because McLaren had passed all stationary stress tests, because all wings always bend in some way and because, according to their calculations, the team had no significant advantage over its opponents."

"But then McLaren stumbled over the rule that the gap between the main blade and the flap ("slot gap") must be the same size at all times when the DRS is closed."

There is another element here, however, since the phenomenon was seen with the low downforce wing alone and not with the higher downforce setup. So, there won't be any impact on a track like Singapore.

The only other race where it could have potentially come into the picture was in Las Vegas, which is possibly the only other low downforce track on the calendar.