Why McLaren’s controversial mini-DRS rear wing became a “source of pride”

McLaren feels the controversy generated by its rear wings in Formula 1’s 2024 season is a “point of pride”, showing just how far the team has come.

The design of McLaren’s low downforce rear wings raised eyebrows in Azerbaijan, where at higher speeds the upper element appeared to rotate back more than rival teams were comfortable with, opening up a slot gap between the two elements dubbed a mini DRS.

After competitors questioned the legality of the design, the FIA deemed McLaren’s rear wings within the regulations.

However, the governing body still requested the team to make changes to avoid forcing other teams into coming up with similar designs and opening up a new arms race to further exploit the regulations around aeroelasticity.

Subsequently, McLaren made modifications to its full range of rear wings, and some rival teams have also had to make integrity tweaks to their upper flaps.

Looking back on one of F1 2024’s main technical intrigues, McLaren’s engineering technical director Neil Houldey says the controversy surrounding its mini DRS is seen by the team as a compliment that shows just how much it has become an innovator rather than a midfielder lagging behind the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

“If you go back 12 months, no one was interested in what we were doing,” Houldey told Autosport in an exclusive interview. “So, as a team actually there’s a sense of pride there, that there are other teams out there concerned about their position in the championship, concerned about what we’re doing.

“We can go back and say: ‘Actually, well done, guys. You’ve got people up and down pit lane looking at what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and trying to emulate us.’ It’s a good situation to be in and it demonstrates just how much has happened in the last 18 months, and demonstrates the performance that we’ve put on the car.

“We did it knowing the solution was legal. There was feedback from other teams that were not happy with it. And actually the FIA, after discussing it with us, didn’t want that proliferating and didn’t want to force other teams to have to find those solutions.

“So, they asked us to drop the effect to a level that was similar to some of the other teams; actually slightly lower, because other teams, there are a few other teams who had to make similar changes.

“We were happy to do that. We’ll try and take opportunities where we can, just as everyone else does. But we’re always trying to work with the FIA for the best of the sport.”

McLaren’s contested low downforce wing was one of several new rear wing designs the Woking-based squad brought to the track in 2024, with its long-time lack of aerodynamic efficiency one of the key areas the team tried to address for this year, having noticed a big deficit to Red Bull’s leading designs in 2023.

Alongside the huge leap McLaren made with the comprehensive Miami upgrade package that turned the MCL38 into a race winner, the aggressive rear wing development across the various downforce levels is hailed as making a significant contribution to McLaren defeating Ferrari and Red Bull for its first constructors’ title since 1998.

“It was quite clear that our rear wings weren’t optimum last season, both from an efficiency perspective and also the DRS effect, and so it was an area of focus for us through 2023 and into this year, to ensure that we became class leading,” Houldey explained.

“And to become class-leading, it was inevitable that we were going to be developing a lot of wings that just further improved our performance. I think that’s demonstrated itself, that effort to ensure that where we saw a weakness was actually a real strength of the car, and part of the reason why it was as quick as it is.

“It’s getting there and I’d say we’re now very, very close [to Red Bull’s strong DRS effect]. It’s not an area that we’re going to stop developing in, so as with all of this car there’s a lot still that we can do, and a lot of performance we know we can still put on the car.”