FIA Tightens Rules After McLaren’s Mini-DRS Rear Wing

Several F1 teams modified their rear wings after FIA’s crackdown on McLaren’s controversial mini-DRS system.

McLaren F1 caused a stir in Baku with a rear wing that opened while in the closed position, effectively creating a mini-DRS. However, the Woking-based team assured in Singapore that they would not risk disqualification.

Following the Baku incident, the FIA issued guidelines prohibiting such rear wing openings when in the closed position. Nikolas Tombazis revealed that McLaren was not the only team required to make adjustments, though he refrained from giving further details.

“After Singapore, we issued a communication regarding rear wings, outlining what we considered acceptable or not. Two or three teams had to make minor changes to comply,” Tombazis explained.

The FIA plans to clarify the limits concerning DRS flap movements: “We don’t want the opening to exceed 2 mm. There is a natural opening due to the way wings are mounted and deform, but some teams’ wings deform more than others.”

Tombazis confirmed that the FIA’s objective is simply to ensure that teams do not continue to exploit the technical regulations: “We just want to make sure there isn’t a continuous trend in a certain direction, but it’s not because we have immediate plans to introduce a new test or anything else.”

“The mini-DRS wing is not in compliance with the regulations. We specifically issued a warning to the teams. We told them, ‘we consider this something that needs to be changed.’ Had they ignored us, which is rarely the case, we would have taken action against them.”