McLaren swivel wing: Why development is progressing so slowly

When Ferrari showcased the rotating wing during pre-season testing, rivals and F1 observers alike reacted with raised eyebrows. After all, the idea of allowing a wing element to rotate half a turn around its own axis in straight-line mode was a compelling one. Red Bull Racing, too, had a similar design in the pipeline during the winter break, which was continuously refined and also caused quite a bit of trouble.

Max Verstappen spun off the track at both the Red Bull Ring and the Silverstone Circuit because the wing made his car unstable as it folded back. The Milton Keynes-based team subsequently decided to temporarily stop using the swivelling wing in order to examine the component’s effects more closely and make further adjustments if necessary.

A complex project

The swivel wing is also causing McLaren a few headaches. The world champion team had already wanted to put its version of it on the track at Spielberg, but held off on using it on the circuit until the race weekend in Budapest. At the Hungaroring, Leonardo Fornaroli was allowed to test it in the first practice session, after which the rear wing disappeared from the car again.

Team principal Andrea Stella commented: “It’s been a complicated project so far.” This came as no surprise, he added, given that they’d seen how the competition had struggled with it. “So we knew it would be complex, and I have to say that our design department has implemented this project in such a way that it works well as far as the wing is concerned – that is, the mechanical actuation and the actuation times. Because there are a number of restrictions imposed by the regulations, not just from an aerodynamic point of view.”

Track testing is essential

This concerns the aerodynamics of the entire car, not just the rear wing, explained the Italian engineer. “It’s about how long it takes for downforce to be re-established when the wing retracts. After all, there aren’t just aerodynamic constraints, but also those stemming from the regulations,” emphasised Stella.

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Expectations have been met, and the swivelling wing will now be tested on the track during further World Championship rounds. Stella made it clear that these tests are essential: “I don’t think the wind tunnel is a major factor here. Other tools can be used for this, and the most important of these, in such a complex project, is of course track testing. That’s why it was important for us to collect the relevant data. With a project like this, you can’t rely solely on the wind tunnel.”