(Motorsport-Total.com) – In Montreal, McLaren introduced the second stage of an extensive update package for the MCL40. This included a new front wing as well as a revised engine cover, rear suspension fairings, and modified floor edges.
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Introducing performance upgrades at sprint weekends is risky, as there is only a single practice session. Ultimately, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri decided before the sprint qualifying to revert to the previous front wing specification.
However, this does not necessarily mean the end for the new design. “We just have to make sure it works properly next time,” Norris emphasizes. “There is no guarantee that we will use it in Monaco, but we will conduct tests to see if we can get it to work better.”
In fact, the team will evaluate the wing again in Monaco, even if they might ultimately decide against using it in the race. There are several reasons for this.
First, there were hardly any opportunities for a representative comparison on track in Canada, as only one hour of practice was available and the circuit was still very “green” at the start, so grip conditions were constantly changing.
Norris used the new wing throughout the practice, while Piastri initially ran with the old specification and only switched to the new one later. The reason given for reverting the wing was that the drivers, according to Norris, “did not have much confidence in the car” with this component.
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This leads to the second reason not to write off the new wing yet: The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is a special case where confidence under braking and turning is crucial, and drivers gain time by aggressively running over the curbs.
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Another reason to stick with the new wing is that its characteristics on track did not match the expectations from simulation. Understanding why this is the case is important, as the front wing has a major influence on the overall aerodynamic characteristics of the car.
“We knew that this front wing had certain deviations from an aerodynamic perspective,” says team principal Andrea Stella. “That’s why we tested the wing. We want to repeat some tests and gain further insights.”
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“The wing would also have been better for this type of track, but not a decisive difference. Before we use it at a sprint event, we wanted to make sure we fully understand the extent of the changes to the car,” says Stella.
“Even though we have mostly been successful in the past, we have not always introduced updates specifically for a particular event. Sometimes they were more exploratory to understand the correlation with our development tools. That’s why we will definitely see this wing again in Monaco,” he announces.
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