Having tweaked their ‘mini-DRS’ rear wing, McLaren has pointed out to the FIA other teams that should “fix their own issues”, while calling for more “respect” for the governing body.

The long-running F1 flexi-wing saga was restarted after the Azerbaijan GP after onboard footage of race winner Oscar Piastri’s McLaren showed the upper and lower rear wing elements separating slightly down the straight, reducing drag and boosting straight-line speed. After rival complaints and talks with the FIA, McLaren “proactively” offered to tweak their rear wing.

McLaren see other teams that need to ‘fix their own issues’

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was asked by the media at the Singapore GP why McLaren took it upon themselves to alter their rear wing design, and as part of the explanation, Stella said McLaren had done their “due diligence” and passed that on to the FIA regarding some rivals who they feel warrant attention.

“We want to proactively have conversation with the FIA, because it looks like this story is becoming big,” said Stella.

“For us, making changes is pretty much transparent, so we may as well do it. It won’t be a big consequence from our performance point of view.

“This also gave us the opportunity to remember the FIA that, you know, we also do some due diligence in terms of studying other people. We don’t want to spend so much energy and time with journalists and trying to create big stories. We just told the FIA what we think is happening.

“And we trust, and we are confident that they will talk to the other teams and think and make sure that they fix their own issues, which may be less visible, but definitely, they do exist.”

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Expanding on McLaren’s perception of the FIA, Stella called for “a little bit more respect” to come the way of the governing body, talking up the knowledge shown by their technical department.

Asked to shed more light on the “issues” at other teams which he wants the FIA to address, Stella replied: “I will not be precise, because I will be disclosing information that a team could fit within a confidentiality range.

“For some reason, this slot gap seems to have become something that dominates Formula 1. There’s many ways in which other cars are exploiting aerodynamic pressure on surfaces. Actually, based on our analysis, some of them are just quite a lot more effective.

“But we do trust the FIA. They are very competent people from a technical point of view. To be honest, when we have conversations with them, not only that, we see that they understand mechanism, but they also understand what is going on with, in this case, our competitors.

“And they always seem to be completely equipped in terms of understanding whether some of the tests are suitable to limit some, let’s say, mechanisms or ways of using, like I say, aerodynamic pressure.

“So like, I think we are in good hands from a policy point of view with the FIA. And I think we should have, all parties, teams, journalists, everyone, a little bit more respect for the FIA and their technical department, because they do a very good job. It’s not a simple job and sometimes we should praise what they do and I don’t see this being done very much.”

McLaren has moved to the top of the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship standings with six rounds to go, their lead over Red Bull coming in at 41 points.

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