Lewis Hamilton near-miss shows Ferrari must remove ‘Macarena’ wing like Red Bull

Follow us on Google Discover

Red Bull have chosen to remove the ‘Macarena’ rear wing from their F1 cars at the Belgian Grand Prix, based on garage shots.

The Red Bull wing has malfunctioned twice in the space of two weekends, sending Max Verstappen into the barriers during Austrian Grand Prix qualifying and ending his race at Silverstone.

Now, photos taken by F1 photographer Mateus Mroz show that Red Bull have fitted an older, non-rotating version of the wing to Verstappen and Isack Hadjar’s cars in the Spa garage.

Lewis Hamilton nearly had a rear wing-related crash just like Max Verstappen

After Verstappen’s two incidents, it emerged that the FIA were looking into the technology to see if it was safe. Rather than an enforced change, this appears to be a temporary solution for Red Bull while they work on a fix.

Ferrari’s device has largely run smoothly, but there was one warning sign at the Austrian GP that the team shouldn’t ignore. Lewis Hamilton had to save a violent snap of oversteer at the high-speed turn nine – the same corner where Verstappen crashed – as he pursued McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Drop your podium prediction for the Belgian Grand Prix 👇

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

It was a near-miss and nothing more, but Sky Sports F1 pundit Anthony Davidson explained at the time that it was down to a ‘complication’ with the Ferrari wing, which takes slightly longer to close than the traditional front wing at the end of an active aero zone.

“Focus on Lewis coming up behind… he turns in while the rear wing is still open,” said Davidson. “The front wing has closed, but the rear wing, because of that Macarena effect, is taking longer than the front wing.

“It’s not simultaneous on the Ferrari, which I actually had never noticed before. The front wing’s already there. The rear wing, he’s fully into the corner and it’s sort of flapping around and then finally gets into position. That’s probably what saved him ultimately.

“Why was it so late? This pink button – I’ve seen him using this the whole way through the race – they’re manually opening and closing the slot gap of the wing under straight-line mode every single time.

“I think they’re having to do so because of the Macarena. They’re having to manually close it before they press the brake pedal or lift off.

“He goes to it, thinks he’s pressed it, turns in, realises, ‘Oh no, I haven’t,’ then actually presses it on the way into the corner.

“What a save it was for Lewis, but I think it was because of this complication of this flipping wing that they have going on that reacts slower than the front wing.”

• READ MORE: Ferrari may have to make ‘last-minute’ change to Lewis Hamilton’s car if it rains at Spa

Ferrari and Hamilton got lucky in that instance, but if there’s another mishap, it could well end their race and cost them significant points. There’s also a risk of a significant damage bill.

Red Bull didn’t copy Ferrari with their design, Laurent Mekies insists. They started developing it around the same time but the Milton Keynes outfit were delayed in delivering it to the race track.

While Ferrari’s model is seemingly more advanced, both require refinement, particularly given the evident consequences if the driver suffers a sudden loss of downforce in a high-speed corner.