FIA introduces clampdown on McLaren's 'mini DRS' with rule change for 2025
In the face of McLaren's controversial rear wing that helped Oscar Piastri clinch his second win at Baku, the FIA now appears to impose a clampdown on any tricky rear wing assembly from next year onwards.
Oscar Piastri took his second F1 victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after having been able to fend off a series of attacks from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Although Ferrari and McLaren appeared to have used similar downforce level at Baku, the Monegasque was unable to retake the lead he lost after the first pit stop despite using his drag reduction system on the 2.2km start-finish full-throttle section where the DRS zone was extended by 100m compared to the previous season.
After the race, footage from the rear-facing onboard camera showed that the upper flap of the MCL38's rear wing was distorting under load, with the most visible aspect of this being the outer leading edge of the upper flap which tilted upwards as speed built.
Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, the Woking-based outfit confirmed that although they had previously passed all tests with their former rear wing assembly, they completed several tweaks following a request from the FIA.
Opening up on the topic, McLaren's Chief Designer Rob Marshall denied that the Woking-based outfit would have exploited any grey areas regarding the aeroelastics.
"I wouldn't say they're [rivals] exploiting it less than McLaren. I wouldn't say McLaren are exploiting it. I would say that everyone's approaching their wing design the way they think."
The governing body has now introduced changes to the technical regulation, imposing a clampdown on any tricky rear wing design. The tweak revolves around the minimum gap between the rear wing elements when DRS is not activated.
The former paragraph which stated that "the distance between the two sections must lie between 10mm and 15mm at their closest position," has been removed.
In addition, a new section, referred to as 3.10.1c of the 2025 Technical Regulations, has been added: “At all points along the span, the rear wing profiles (as defined under Article 3.10.1) must have a minimum gap of between 9.4mm and 13mm.
"This will apply when the DRS is not in the state of deployment (as defined under Article 3.10.10) and will be measured with a spherical gauge."
