McLaren validated its new mobile rear wing at Monza, largely inspired by Red Bull’s system. But the team took care to avoid a weakness already encountered by Verstappen.
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McLaren continues to develop its MCL40 and does not hesitate to closely observe the solutions imagined by its rivals. At Monza, the British team officially validated its new mobile rear wing concept, nicknamed “H-Wing,” after extensively testing it during various practice sessions.
The principle strongly resembles that adopted by Red Bull on the RB22. However, McLaren did not just replicate the Milton Keynes solution: the team also studied its constraints and especially the reliability issues already encountered by Max Verstappen.
The goal is clear: to benefit from the aerodynamic gain of the concept without reproducing the failures observed at Red Bull.
McLaren directly inspired by Red Bull
The system installed on the MCL40 shares several fundamental characteristics with that of the RB22.
Rather than using two separate actuators hidden in the endplates of the wing, McLaren chose a single central actuator. This is precisely the philosophy adopted by Red Bull.
The similarities also concern the movement of the mobile flap. It is pushed backward thanks to a linkage fixed on its leading edge, causing a rotation slightly less than 180 degrees.
This architecture allows the wing profile to almost invert when the system is activated.
On the long straights of Monza, such a configuration reduces aerodynamic drag and thus seeks higher top speed.
A system that imposes a mechanical compromise
The concept nevertheless presents a significant difficulty. The chosen geometry particularly facilitates the first phase of the movement, when the flap opens.
Closing, on the other hand, is much more demanding.
At very high speed, the pressure exerted by the air on the flap naturally opposes its return to its initial position. The actuator must therefore generate enough force to overcome this aerodynamic resistance and ensure complete closure.
There is no truly perfect solution. Depending on the geometry of the different elements and the method used to actuate the flap, engineers must accept a compromise: favoring ease of opening or ease of closing.
And it is precisely on this second point that Red Bull’s experience provided valuable information to McLaren.
Verstappen’s problems closely studied
Red Bull has already experienced at least two notable incidents where Verstappen’s RB22 mobile flap did not fully close.
In these circumstances, the Dutch driver found himself with a car whose aerodynamic balance was no longer as expected, to the point of going off track.
Relatively slow closure theoretically increases the period during which aerodynamic pressure can oppose the flap’s movement. In an extreme scenario, this resistance can become significant enough to prevent the mechanism from fully returning to its normal position.
This type of failure remains unlikely, but the precedents encountered by Red Bull show that the risk cannot be completely ruled out.
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McLaren was fully aware of this when developing its own version.
McLaren insisted on reliability
The Woking team therefore subjected its system to an extensive validation program to minimize the risk of malfunction.
Particular attention was paid to the angle of the rod responsible for actuating the flap. Engineers sought the geometry offering the best compromise to ensure sufficiently fast and reliable closure.
Another imperative: the movement of the rear wing must remain compatible with that of the mobile flap located at the front of the car.
McLaren thus took advantage of all the practice sessions at Monza to accumulate data and verify the mechanism’s operation under different conditions.
At the end of these tests, the team was sufficiently satisfied with its reliability to authorize its use in competition.
A valuable gain on the straights
The system’s interest is particularly obvious at Monza. The Italian circuit is dominated by its long straights and forces teams to reduce aerodynamic drag as much as possible.
By almost inverting the rear flap profile when activated, McLaren hopes to gain an additional advantage in these full-throttle sections.
The absolute gain would not be spectacular, but in a Formula 1 where a few hundredths can separate several drivers, every improvement counts.
The MCL40 suffers more than some of its rivals on Monza’s straights. Lando Norris pointed out after qualifying that most of his deficit came from these parts of the circuit.
This new system therefore constitutes an additional weapon to try to reduce this handicap.
McLaren takes the idea, but not the mistakes
The arrival of this H-Wing also illustrates how quickly technical solutions now circulate between different teams.
Red Bull showed an interesting path with its own mechanism, but its problems simultaneously provided McLaren with valuable information on risks to avoid.
Rather than starting from scratch, Woking engineers thus adopted a proven philosophy while adapting certain parameters, notably those related to closure and reliability.
McLaren therefore does not hide the Red Bull inspiration of its new rear wing. But after observing Verstappen’s misadventures, the British team mainly sought to learn from its rival’s weaknesses before giving the green light to the system at Monza.
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