Ted Kravitz says Red Bull must have been ‘laughing’ when they saw Ferrari’s ‘Macarena’ wing

Follow us on Google Discover

Red Bull and Ferrari have both fitted rotating ‘Macarena’ rear wings to their F1 cars at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

Ferrari stunned F1 fans and many of their rival teams when they used the wing during pre-season testing, while Red Bull trialled the design during a filming day at Silverstone in the extended break after Japan.

The Scuderia elected not to use the wing in a competitive session until round four in Miami, coinciding with Red Bull. The part is designed to reduce drag in active aero zones, where teams are allowed to open slot gaps at the front and rear.

Red Bull’s ‘Macarena’ wing is even ‘more effective’ than Ferrari design, Ted Kravitz says

Given the lead times involved, it’s highly likely that Red Bull’s wing was already in development by the time Ferrari showcased the technology in Bahrain.

Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz says that Red Bull have come up with an ‘even more effective’ concept, unlocking greater straight-line speed with a larger opening.

He said on Ted’s Notebook: “It turns out that, when everyone was going phrasing when Ferrari had done the ‘Macarena’ wing, lots of people within Red Bull at Milton Keynes said, ‘Ha, just you wait till you see what we’ve got in development.’

• READ MORE: Red Bull are ‘smiling’ as Miami Grand Prix upgrades ‘halved’ weight issues with Max Verstappen’s car

“It turns out they had one that had an even bigger opening, allowing more air through, dumping more drag, being more effective than the Macarena wing. They must have been laughing into their computer screens in Milton Keynes when Ferrari weren’t even able to race it for the first two races of the year.”

It remains to be seen whether any other teams will attempt to copy the design. If it’s deemed to be beneficial, then it could appear on virtually every car by the end of the year.

Laurent Mekies: ‘We’ll never know’ who invented Macarena wing first

Speaking to Sky after qualifying, Mekies was adamant that Red Bull came up with the idea without any inspiration from Ferrari. In fact, he says it’s been in the works since the end of last year.

Red Bull’s development priorities changed after their poor start to the 2026 season – they only scored 16 points in the opening three rounds – but the five-week break gave them the opportunity to introduce the ‘amazing’ upgrade.

“What I can tell you for sure is that the guys invented it without having seen the Ferrari wing,” said Mekies. “I’m not going to tell you who invented it first, because we’ll never know.

• READ MORE: FIA now wants to ban Ferrari aero upgrade after it revealed opening in 2026 F1 regulations

“But what I can tell you is that they certainly invented our wing independently of what the other guys have done. It was far before, it was actually at the end of last year that we started to work on this wing.

“We had a fairly troubled start to the season and we had to drop the priority a little bit and the wing only made it here, but it’s an amazing bit of kit.”

Red Bull have arguably made the biggest step of any team at this weekend’s race, with Max Verstappen qualifying on the front row for the Grand Prix after a Q2 elimination last time out in Japan. He prevailed against Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton during a direct head-to-head in the Sprint, ultimately finishing fifth.