McLaren’s mini-DRS: The ‘million dollar question’ facing MCL38 car

Announcing in Singapore that they’ll tweak the MCL38’s mini-DRS rear wing, Juan Pablo Montoya is interested to see what effect, if any, this has on McLaren’s performance in Austin.

McLaren’s ‘mini-DRS’ was one of the big talking points after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where the rear-facing camera angle from Oscar Piastri’s race-winning MCL38 showed the ‘mini-DRS’ effect.

McLaren tweaked the mini-DRS after talks with the FIA

Even when his DRS was not activated, the rear wing’s flex saw the upper plane of the wing separating slightly from the lower. This gave him the straight-line speed needed to hold off Charles Leclerc to clinch the victory.

McLaren, after “conversations with the FIA”, made the call to tweak the wing.

The team told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “Whilst our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and passes all FIA deflection tests, McLaren has proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing.”

The big question is how will that affect them going forward?

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McLaren won the first race after Baku, the Singapore Grand Prix, where Lando Norris crossed the line 21 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. And he did it without the mini-DRS wing.

However, moving onto the Circuit of the Americas, a track where the mini-DRS would have had more of an impact than in Singapore, Montoya believes losing it could unsettled the balance of the MCL38.

“Red Bull, I think, have started to solve their problems with the car,” Montoya told Gambling Zone.

“If the Red Bull gets fixed, and I think there’s a package coming for the US Grand Prix, and if all of a sudden Perez starts beating Oscar and Max returns to winning races the Constructors’ title can flip back again in a heartbeat.

“Because how much is McLaren going to lose with the rear wing? That’s the million-dollar question.

“I think they’re going to go after their front wing as well. If you look at the front wing of every team, it stays in the same place except the McLaren and the Mercedes; it’s the two wings that roll back.

“So the way the wings were working, I think they were skipping the balance of the car. I think the balance of the car is going to go away a little bit, because now the front wing keeps giving up and the rear one doesn’t.

“Now, when you go into the high-speed corners, the aero balance is going to start shifting back, because now the rear wing is not losing the performance.

“McLaren’s speed is not astonishing, but it’s their consistency and how well they look after the tyres.”

McLaren are 41 points up on Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship after taking the lead off the reigning World Champions in Azerbaijan. It’s the first time since 2014 that McLaren are P1 in the teams’ standings.

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