McLaren has put its plans to evaluate a new low-drag rear wing package on pause until after the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Autosport has learned.
The team brought a rear wing treatment inspired by Ferrari’s so-called ‘Macarena’ wing to the Red Bull Ring and planned to evaluate it on Lando Norris’ car during practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. But it decided the component needed more development before trying it on track, where any failure would cost valuable running time.
First seen on Ferrari’s SF-26, though Red Bull had a similar concept in development that it introduced slightly later, the ‘Macarena’ wing features a different actuation mechanism for the upper rear wing flap when Straight Line Mode is deployed. Rather than pulling the flap closer to the horizontal, as with the old Drag Reduction System (DRS), the actuator rotates the entire flap.
It’s understood that the pivoting wing offers a greater drag-defeating effect than a conventionally actuated one, but the mechanism requires a great deal of development to be robust enough for frequent use in a race environment. There is also a learning process in terms of how it affects the aerodynamic map of the car during the transition phase – when it is rotating – because this has second-order effects on tyre loadings and downforce levels when approaching corners.
“We have to iron it out, we have to try and make sure it works, and maybe in a couple of races we can introduce it properly,” said Norris on Thursday in Austria, when he was still expecting to try the new wing.
“It’s just a good job by the team to try and push forward as quickly as possible. It’s not an easy project. It takes time to figure out such a complicated wing like this.
McLaren ran its regular rear wing setup during practice in Austria
Photo by: Getty Images
“But it’s cool, it’s innovative, it’s nice to see. It was pretty cool to see Ferrari at the beginning of the year, and it’s amazing what someone who understands the rules and regulations and understands the wording, how you kind of work around these areas.
“And I think that’s something that makes Formula 1 very special, how people can create these kind of concepts. I wish we had it three months ago already.”
Before the start of the 2026 season, McLaren’s chief technical officer Rob Marshall suggested his team would spend the first few races learning about the behaviour of its MCL40, and observing others’ innovations, before deciding on a definitive development path for the car.
The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix shifted the timelines slightly since it, in effect, put the season on pause after just three rounds, but also provided a whole month without races in which to focus on technical development.
Research and manufacturing lead times are such that we are only now seeing the results of teams being “inspired” by large, sophisticated innovations introduced by others at the start of the season. And with components such as this there is an element of risk versus reward, given the limitations imposed by F1’s budget cap.
McLaren must therefore have a high level of confidence that this is worth pursuing. But at the same time it has to balance those risks, given its position in the constructors’ championship relative to Mercedes and Ferrari. Norris is already a distant fifth in the drivers’ standings, with fewer than half the points of championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images
The new rear wing may provide a performance benefit, but in modern F1 there is no single component you can fit to a car and find half a second per lap. There is more to be lost by missing out on track time during practice – and as it happened, a hydraulic leak delayed Norris’ arrival on track in Austria anyway.
Since there is only one hour of practice on a sprint weekend, it is highly unlikely McLaren will evaluate the new wing at Silverstone. It will probably not be seen in public until Belgium.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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