Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur says the legality of McLaren’s controversial ‘mini-DRS’ rear wing was a black-and-white matter, after the FIA intervened to request it be changed.
Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, McLaren said it would be making modifications to its rear wing design in the wake of controversy about its flexing characteristics.
Onboard footage from Oscar Piastri’s car in last week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix had revealed that the rear wing’s upper element was flexing to help open up the slot gap – helping reduce drag to improve top speed.
Following analysis by the FIA about the design, it emerged on the Friday in Singapore that the governing body felt the behaviour of the wing did not comply with the regulations so asked for it to be modified.
McLaren later confirmed that it had agreed to the request and would be making changes.
While the issue of flexing rear wings has popped up over recent days, it comes in the wake of season-long intrigue over the aeroelasticity of front wings.
However, Vasseur says that teams exploiting flexing rear wings is a totally different ball game in terms of where it sits with the regulations and recommendations of relevant technical directives (TD).
“I think there is a kind of confusion between what’s happened with the front wing and the rear wing,” said Vasseur in Singapore.
“The front wing, we all agree that it could be a grey area because the first paragraph of the TD is saying that you can’t design a part of the car with the intention of the deformation. Intention is difficult to manage.
“But the rear wing story, it’s completely different because in the article you have also a maximum deflection and this is black or white. It’s no grey, no dark grey, no light grey. It’s black and white and for me, it’s clear.”
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
With the rear wing issue having only come to prominence after the Baku race, Vasseur said there was an element of frustration that McLaren had benefitted from the design in previous races.
He says Ferrari’s analysis showed the wing had been used at other low-downforce venues like the Italian GP where Piastri and Lando Norris finished second and third.
“We all saw the video and the pictures of this,” added Vasseur. “It’s a bit frustrating when, if you remember perfectly the situation in Monza, we had five cars in two-hundredths of a second [actually 0.075s].
“You can move from P1, P2 to P5 or P6 for two hundredths of seconds. In Baku, we arrived 10 laps in a row side by side [in] Turn 1. You can imagine that we have a bit of frustration.”
While the focus on the McLaren rear wing developed over recent days, one route that could have been open to Ferrari in Baku was to protest it and bring the matter to a head there.
Asked if such a move had been on the cards, Vasseur said: “It could have been possible, but it’s not so easy to have the evidence [required].
“But now, honestly, I want to turn this page, because I want to be focused on the future. Baku and Monza are behind us. We have still seven races to go. We have to win this weekend, and it will be the best reply that we can give.”