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McLaren have reportedly been forced to make a last-gasp U-turn on their Austrian Grand Prix upgrade after having ‘problems’ on Lando Norris’ car.
The reigning world champions have had a tough start to the campaign, having encountered several problems that have cost their drivers vital points in the world championship.
As things stand, 2025 F1 world champion Norris sits fifth in the standings with 73 points, five points ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Heading into the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, McLaren are looking to build on the momentum from the Barcelona race, where Norris finished third while Piastri came home fifth.
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McLaren have ‘abandoned’ plans to test their own version of the ‘Macarena’ wing in Austria
Earlier in the week, it was rumoured that McLaren would introduce a brand new rear wing, which would be their own version of the ‘Macarena’ wing used by Ferrari and Red Bull.
The plan was to test the new rear wing on Norris’ car during FP1, in order to gather important data on whether it can be used during qualifying or even a race.
However, as reported by The Race, McLaren were forced to ‘abandon’ their plans for the new rear wing just before FP1.
It has been suggested that the new rear wing arrived at the track on Friday morning and was then fitted onto Norris’ car ahead of practice.
However, during regular pre-running checks in the garage ahead of the start of FP1, the team found ‘issues’ that resulted in them steering away from using it in the session.
It is believed that the wing was then swiftly removed, with McLaren realising that the brand new component requires more work before it can be considered ‘fully functional’.
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According to the report, a McLaren spokesperson confirmed that there are ‘no plans’ for the wing to return for the remaining sessions of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.
It has been suggested that the new part will likely make a return in another Grand Prix further down the line.
Although the rear wing never made it on track, it has been noted that it follows a similar concept to Red Bull’s version, which maintains the central pillar activation mechanism.
Speaking about the rear wing, Piastri said, as per Crash: “We won’t race it. I believe it’s on Lando [Norris’] car tomorrow. It’s to test out; it’s not ready to race at the moment.
“Obviously we’ve seen some of the creative solutions [from rival teams], and they don’t come without their challenges, clearly. It won’t be raced, but useful to try it out.”
Eventually, Kimi Antonelli went fastest in FP1, with Norris’ best time putting him P7 after his session was impacted by issues on his car; the Brit only managed to get out on track with less than 10 minutes left on the clock.
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