Ferrari’s team leader Fred Vasseur believes that McLaren’s rear wing used in Azerbaijan was “not legal.”
The issue arose when camera footage from Oscar Piastri’s MCL38 showed the wing’s slot gap widening on the fast straights in Baku, highlighting a feature called ‘mini-DRS.’
After Piastri won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he fought closely with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the FIA looked into McLaren’s wing flexibility. Although McLaren’s wings passed all necessary FIA static load tests, the FIA found the wing’s behavior unacceptable and McLaren “proactively” agreed to modify its low-drag design.
The FIA has now provided clearer rules for all teams about what is acceptable for rear wings, as other teams were also seen trying out similar slot gap openings.
Nikolas Tombazis, who oversees single-seater matters at the FIA, stated that multiple teams needed to make changes for the Austin race. McLaren was the only team to confirm adjustments to its entire rear wing setup, but they denied that this was due to a direct request from the FIA.
“McLaren proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to our rear wing following the Azerbaijan GP,” a spokesperson for McLaren said.
“We have made small changes to all our rear wings since Baku to avoid any further problems in this area.”
Tombazis, speaking to Motorsport.com in Austin, said: “After Singapore, we communicated about rear wings, outlining what we consider acceptable or not, and two or three teams had to make minor adjustments to comply.”
It is not clear which other teams needed to modify their wings, but Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur confirmed that his team was not among them. He mentioned this to the media, including PlanetF1.com, after Ferrari’s 1-2 finish in Austin.
“We didn’t change anything on the rear wing,” he said, “but I think it was more about the low-downforce setup. I’m not sure if someone changed their rear wing between Singapore and Austin.”
During the US GP weekend, the Ferrari team boss also told Sky Italy about the McLaren rear wing, stating, “for me, this is not legal.” He added that in Singapore, he pointed out that “the rear wing situation is clear because the regulations specify a maximum deflection, which is black or white.”
“There’s no grey area—it’s either compliant or it’s not,” he explained.
