Is McLaren's rear wing trick F1's next major controversy?

Formula 1’s ongoing row over flexible wings took a fresh twist over the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, as attention switched from what some teams might be doing with their front wings, to an apparent trick McLaren has come up with on its rear wing.
In Baku, the rear-facing onboard camera from Oscar Piastri’s race-winning McLaren appeared to show the top element of the rear wing deflecting at high speed.
It looked like just the top element of Piastri’s wing - the part that opens when the DRS is engaged - was able to bend or twist slightly at its outer edges, therefore increasing the slot gap between the two main wing elements when DRS was NOT in use.
This would reduce drag, giving any car that was able to use it a small straight-line speed boost that could be very beneficial on the streets of Baku, and it would also be especially beneficial to a driver leading the race, who is not able to use DRS himself, trying to fend off a faster Ferrari for dozens of laps along one of the longest straights on the F1 calendar…

00:00 What McLaren's doing
01:45 How it works
03:19 Is it legal?
05:59 FIA clampdown?

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#f1 #mclaren #f12024 #f1news #formula1 #fia #flexiwings #wings #rearwing #piastri #norris #formulaone

[Heisenberg_]

Ferrari should bring back 2019 engine. 💀

[hindools]

McLaren testing 2026 car in real time 😂

[coolio]

F1 is always so back when you get videos like these

[markorr]

Not only the straight line speed, but the can run more downforce with no penalty

[jansz]

It's astonishing how much controversy can a detail like this raise... and how significant advantage can it give you...

[BeautifulModelBarbaraHutch-ve]

What I don't like it's FIA changing rules mid season. If some team discovered a loophole on the rules, let them have it, let other teams try to achieve that. It should be the pinnacle of the sport, trying to get the best of the rules available at the start of a season. FIA could/should cover this loopholes to the next season and that's it.

[AtreusMobile]

I just dont get the FIA's consistency, last year they got a sniff of Aston's flexible wing that passed their tests and immediately deemed it illegal, but this year they delayed any decisions for multiple months

[paulm.]

The FIA response is also flexible depending on which team is doing the rule bending.

[zardozal]

This is why we love Formula 1. It has always been this way, teams carefully reading the rule book and pushing the limits of what is legal.

[pdxholmes]

I will never understand why people want this kind of stuff stamped out. This is GREAT, this is what we should want F1 to be. These kind of crazy pushes towards the tiniest advantage. It's what makes F1, F1. If you want to watch a spec series plenty of those exist. F1 should always remain a series about engineering on the edge.

[rdGenGuy]

it'll be legal until Redbull makes their own version.

[fintonmainz]

The wings are what can be seen.
Imaging the scope for "bending" the rules on the floor...

[QwoaX]

FIA when RBR/AM: "How dare you!"
FIA when McL/Merc: "Weird flex but okay."

[poopsiclemcgee]

FIA is so annoying their half assed meddling is just a negative. Allowing more ingenuity on the cars would make things so much more interesting lol

[jadepalmer]

If this were RedBull and not McLaren people would be throwing an absolute fit lol

[SuperfluousIndividual]

Ferrari engine controversy, Ferrari's fault.
Mercedes DAS controversy, Mercede's fault.
Red Bull's flex-wings and the rumoured illegal brake system controversy, RB's fault.
McLaren flex-wings controversy, McLaren's fault.
When will F1 fans stop blaming the teams for looking and exploring grey areas in the rule book and start putting some pressure on the FIA to create actual regulations without loopholes?
If their wing passed the flexibility test and was deemed legal, why are people blaming the team? Blame the FIA instead and have them come up with stricter regulations for that sort of thing.
Every year shit like this happens and people are more concerned with attacking the teams who're being smart than the FIA for not doing their job properly. It's insane.

[Mohallekiaunty]

if this was Red Bull doing it and winning then people would lose thier shit over it saying jow its illegal, rule breaking, not healthy for competition etc etc..but since its Mclaren, its just a cheeky innovation and team pushing thier limits and finding loopholes.

[outlawfps]

In a cost cap era, there should be no mid-season bans. If a team is smart enough to spend their limited money finding the FIA's loopholes, they should be allowed to keep it

[AyyFuji]

What I hate the most about this is the lack of consistency within the FIA. We had this exact thing with flexi wings in 2021, teams were given a date to change their wings by. But now, it’s suddenly fine, and they won’t do anything? How is it this hard to run F1, when all we want is f’ing consistency

[CringeLord]

This kind of creativity in interpreting the rules is necessary in f1. Amend the rules if it’s such a big deal, otherwise it’s fair game.