2025 McLaren F1 Team

[mwillems]

It's almost impossible to tell who will be the winner and loser here. All sorts of plausible reasons might swing the benefit one way or another. Curious that Mclaren were all for it though. At least that suggests they are more than happy with how their concept will behave without the additional flexing. Or they just have a clever design that outsmarts the deflection test.

I do think though, that it's benefits were quite overstated last season. Much like the rear wing and the alleged loss of performance at the end of last season that seemed to in fact only to be specific to conditions that were very well known to cause the car to struggle- cold through air temp or more than moderately wet conditions.

[the EDGE]

It's almost impossible to tell who will be the winner and loser here. All sorts of plausible reasons might swing the benefit one way or another. Curious that Mclaren were all for it though. At least that suggests they are more than happy with how their concept will behave without the additional flexing. Or they just have a clever design that outsmarts the deflection test.

I do think though, that it's benefits were quite overstated last season. Much like the rear wing and the alleged loss of performance at the end of last season that seemed to in fact only to be specific to conditions that were very well known to cause the car to struggle- cold through air temp or more than moderately wet conditions.

You raise some good points. Maybe over the winter their development has allowed them to run less angle of attack on the front wing, negating for a need for so much deflection (which I assume carries a drag penalty?) so they can already pass the tougher tolerance level that's going to be permitted. Here's hoping so any way!

I'm not sure I agree with you on it being of little benefit to the Mcl38 though, at certain tracks I think it would have been of vital importance to balance the car between the low & high speed corners. Other teams that also started to adopt it also showed an upturn in performance

[diffuser]

Don't think it will advantage/disadvantage McLaren one way or the other.

I do think it is incredibly stupid for the FIA to wake on Feb 1st in the final year of the current regs to try and change regs and setting a dead line for may 30th. A time when some teams will be already switching to 2026. Plus, 2026 will have front wing DRS. IT JUST DOESN'T make sense.

[mwillems]

It's almost impossible to tell who will be the winner and loser here. All sorts of plausible reasons might swing the benefit one way or another. Curious that Mclaren were all for it though. At least that suggests they are more than happy with how their concept will behave without the additional flexing. Or they just have a clever design that outsmarts the deflection test.

I do think though, that it's benefits were quite overstated last season. Much like the rear wing and the alleged loss of performance at the end of last season that seemed to in fact only to be specific to conditions that were very well known to cause the car to struggle- cold through air temp or more than moderately wet conditions.

You raise some good points. Maybe over the winter their development has allowed them to run less angle of attack on the front wing, negating for a need for so much deflection (which I assume carries a drag penalty?) so they can already pass the tougher tolerance level that's going to be permitted. Here's hoping so any way!

I'm not sure I agree with you on it being of little benefit to the Mcl38 though, at certain tracks I think it would have been of vital importance to balance the car between the low & high speed corners. Other teams that also started to adopt it also showed an upturn in performance

I don't doubt it helped, I just don't think.it was a game changer. By the end of the season, Ferrari and Merc had flexi front wings too. When Ferrari brought their wing it also came with several other updates. The main one being the fix to the ground effect consistency. So it's hard to tell how much it helped.

It would have improved drag and balance at speed as it would flex with rear wing, but with the rear flexing even less this season, a bendy front wing feels a bit less necessary. I always wondered if it helped push air around the front tyres too, but it's hard to tell.

In any case, only RB were a little behind on flex and I think the gap to RB wasn't to do with that. They had other issues to fix.

[Shader]

It seems that team has decided to keep their cards close to the chest this year... Only a livery launch. But, isn't it weird that we didn't even get a fire-up video??

[mwillems]

Well sort of.

Apparently Mclaren and Ferrari have found commonality between the 25 and 26 regs and are going down that route with significant changes that feed into the 26 design language.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclaren-m ... gn-f1-2025

[bauc]

Sorry if double post -

Red Bull is reportedly “furious” after investing a lot to recover ground compared to rivals on flexi-wings.

There is “extreme conviction” among the teams that it was McLaren who pushed for the tightening of the tests and the upcoming TD regarding the front wings

[Autoracer]

[FittingMechanics]

Sorry if double post -

Red Bull is reportedly “furious” after investing a lot to recover ground compared to rivals on flexi-wings.

There is “extreme conviction” among the teams that it was McLaren who pushed for the tightening of the tests and the upcoming TD regarding the front wings

[Autoracer]

Two can play that game. Glad to see McLaren flex their influence.

[diffuser]

Sorry if double post -

Red Bull is reportedly “furious” after investing a lot to recover ground compared to rivals on flexi-wings.

There is “extreme conviction” among the teams that it was McLaren who pushed for the tightening of the tests and the upcoming TD regarding the front wings

[Autoracer]

Two can play that game. Glad to see McLaren flex their influence.

It just means that McLaren asked about the legality of something on the front wing that could be helpful and wanted to use. It doesn't mean anybody else saw it or was using it.

As far as RBR b*tching and moaning, it could just be an act.

[mwillems]

It may not actually have the same value on their 25 concept and feel its loss will hurt others more than them.

[CjC]

Is it possible that Mclarens 2024 flexi wing would comply with the to be introduced TD in May?
Or is that not possible?
My understanding is that there is a reduction of allowable movement from 15 to 10mm, does Mclarens flex to 9.9mm and they think others are flexing over 10mm?

[Farnborough]

Is it possible that Mclarens 2024 flexi wing would comply with the to be introduced TD in May?
Or is that not possible?
My understanding is that there is a reduction of allowable movement from 15 to 10mm, does Mclarens flex to 9.9mm and they think others are flexing over 10mm?

The team usually have the tools, or at least see what's the outcome from inspection procedure, so must know where they are in relation to existing and proposed.

They could take the view that tightening the rules would "cap" other team's development at no more than theirs, which could explain their apparently positive attitude to this.

Guess that not many could accurately predict the outcome of this, given there's no current on track benchmark to even set a order of performance to go on.

Sometimes a change has nil effect on some design, sometimes it nixes the "wrong" team (thinking 2022 shift) and makes a complete mess of competitive season.

It looks more like a crude "handicapping" method, certainly in what's publicly given at the moment, by the FIA though.

Sone's gonna be celebrating, with some in the doldrums being likely too.

[Waz]

How could the benefits have been overstated if teams took a significant leap forward once introducing the same level of flexibility?

The benefit of being able to balance the front and rear downforce for every corner is immense.

The stability and driver confidence that brings shouldn't be underestimated.

[haza]

McLaren and Ferrari going for a high risk concept

https://x.com/formularacers_/status/188 ... 89933?s=46

[CjC]

So the theories that Mclaren strong lobbied for the new TD are wide of the mark….

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/real ... 25-u-turn/

Still no quote from the team though