McLaren’s ‘very clever’ regulation exploit that made Red Bull unhappy shown off at Singapore

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The spotlight was on McLaren heading into the Singapore Grand Prix after the FIA outlawed their ‘Mini DRS’ seen on Oscar Piastri’s car during the race in Baku.

Footage from the onboard camera that showed the rear of Piastri’s McLaren exposed a trick with their DRS flap, whereby the slot gap was flexing and raised slightly when on a straight.

Red Bull and Ferrari protested the design and the FIA investigated the rear wing during practice for the Singapore GP, subsequently ruling that it had to be removed and reverted to an older specification.

FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said the governing body stopped short of disqualifying McLaren because they felt it ‘didn’t seem appropriate’ given their rear wing passed all required tests.

While the attention was on the rear wing, journalist Alex Kalinauckas spotted something else on the MCL38 that could turn heads in the F1 paddock next when speaking on the Flat Chat with Codders podcast.

McLaren’s ‘very clever’ flexible front wing design

Flexible wings are banned in F1 but it is accepted that some do deform at high speed. The challenge for teams is to make them flex enough, but also pass the deflection tests set out by the FIA to be deemed safe enough to run without the risk of them breaking.

While the teams agree that the rear wing should not experience any deflections, there is a bit of ambiguity over the front wing and some teams can exploit it better than others.

McLaren has done so with the MCL38 and Kalinauckas explained why it is a key area of performance for F1 teams with the current ground effect cars.

“They’re very clever. Watch the McLaren onboard in Singapore. There’s relatively short straights there, and the front wing is moving around,” said Kalinauckas.

“We thought it was just all about the floor in the ground effect era, but actually teams are finding they can make these big gains with these front wings.”

Red Bull unhappy about McLaren’s front wing design

McLaren’s prolific car development programme throughout the 2024 season has led to increased scrutiny from rivals.

Red Bull has voiced their concerns over McLaren’s front wing earlier in the season, claiming their design bends too much before returning to its primary position under braking.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Since the Belgian GP, the FIA has been actively studying the amount of flexibility from front wings by using additional cameras which are situated in the nosecone.

The governing body said that the data from these studies is being used to enhance their understanding of bodywork flexibility and could see changes made to the regulations for next season.