After the 2024 Azerbaijan GP, McLaren’s rear wing has come under immense scrutiny. The main point of contention doing the rounds is whether the advantage gained by Oscar Piastri against Charles Leclerc during the Grand Prix last weekend was enough to win him the race.
The MCL38’s rear wing has now been dubbed as ‘Mini DRS’ because of its slight deflection on the straights. This creates a DRS-like gap in the wing, thereby reducing drag. Piastri was chased for over 30 laps by the Monegasque racing ace with the Australian edging him out by a slight margin every lap into turn one.
The Race’s Ben Anderson explained that the advantage that the #81 driver got was around a tenth of a second on the main straight of the Baku Street Circuit. While that is inconsequential when it came to Qualifying, during the race it might have just been enough to keep the Ferrari driver at bay.
Shocking, McLaren has 2 DRS gadgets.
New: an extra mini DRS that opens automaticallyAfter the flexi front wing, now they’ve a flexi rear wing. Even my dog can see that this isn’t right.
Seeing this, you might be wondering how McLaren has made such a significant jump since… pic.twitter.com/98R7lQnFrq
— Marc (@433_marc) September 15, 2024
He explained on YouTube, “In a race situation as Piastri found himself at Baku, even a tiny gain from this might have made the crucial difference that could prevent a chasing car getting close enough to make a pass for the lead.”
Despite Leclerc’s incessant onslaught, Piastri broke free of the Ferrari driver’s DRS after a 30+ lap battle. The tires on Leclerc’s SF-24 gave up and Piastri went on to win the race, albeit under a VSC after Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz crashed out on the penultimate lap.
Is McLaren running an illegal car despite the FIA’s clean chit?
The debate has since been raging about the legality of McLaren‘s 2024 challenger. This comes in despite the FIA giving the Woking-based team a clean chit in terms of the regulations.
After the Grand Prix, Piastri’s car was randomly selected for post-race scrutiny. However, the MCL38 of the Australian racing driver passed all the checks.
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The technical delegate of the FIA put Piastri’s brake drums and ducts, braking system sensors, and mechanisms that could provide asymmetric braking torques under the microscope. However, the flexi-rear wing was not put to the test.
Ferrari and Red Bull have both raised concerns over the legality of certain components on the McLaren and Mercedes cars. These concerns were raised on the basis of front-wing flex. But it now appears that McLaren’s rear wing has also come under scrutiny by its rivals.
