McLaren has confirmed that its new front wing, withdrawn after mixed tests in Montreal, will be tested again at the Monaco Grand Prix.
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McLaren is not turning the page on its latest aerodynamic development. After quickly abandoning its new front wing during the Canadian weekend, the British team has decided to give it a second chance at the Monaco Grand Prix. This approach is part of a logic of analysis and understanding rather than immediate performance.
The Woking team had introduced this technical evolution in Montreal with the aim of improving its overall performance level. But the first on-track tests quickly showed results below expectations, prompting the team to revert to a specification already successfully used in Miami.
A shortened test in Canada
From the first free practice sessions at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, McLaren evaluated the new wing on both cars. Lando Norris used it at the start of the session, before Oscar Piastri took over later in the session.
While the Australian seemed slightly more comfortable with this new configuration, both drivers ultimately opted to return to the old version after the initial conclusions of the weekend.
The choice was made before the decisive phases of the Grand Prix, notably after a sprint qualifying session deemed more convincing with the specification used in Miami.
A decision guided more by analysis than performance
Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, explained that this evolution was not yet fully validated aerodynamically, which motivated the team’s caution.
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According to him, the main objective was not only to improve immediate performance but also to precisely understand the package’s behavior in real conditions.
McLaren indeed considers these tests as an important step in the process of correlating development tools and the track.
Monaco as a development laboratory
Despite its quick withdrawal in Canada, this front wing is therefore not abandoned. It will be reinstalled on the MCL40 at the Monaco Grand Prix, a track particularly suited to this type of test thanks to its numerous free practice sessions.
This new opportunity will allow McLaren to gather more data in a different environment and better understand the real potential of this evolution.
Andrea Stella confirmed that this approach is an integral part of the team’s development strategy, which does not hesitate to use certain weekends as experimental grounds.
“We will see this wing again in Monaco” he assured, thus confirming McLaren’s willingness to continue its evaluations despite a first inconclusive test.
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