Andrea Stella explained why McLaren took time to put on track its own version of the rotating rear wing developed by Ferrari for the 2026 Formula 1 season. According to the head of the British team, the complexity of the concept was already evident from the first tests carried out by the Italian team.
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In the pre-season tests in Bahrain, Ferrari presented its ‘Macarena’ wing, with a flap capable of rotating 270 degrees to modify the wing’s behavior on the straights. The goal is to reduce aerodynamic drag and increase top speed, while the system needs to recover the necessary downforce before the corners.
Ferrari took the concept to free practice at the Chinese GP and later officially used it during the Miami weekend, while Red Bull Racing also developed its own version. McLaren brought the part to Montreal but did not use it, and the first appearance on a team car happened only with Oscar Piastri in FP1 at the Hungarian GP.
Stella stated that the process required care, precisely because Ferrari’s experience had already shown the complexity of the development: “The project with the rotating flap is, I must say, a complicated project,” he said. For him, there was no surprise regarding the time needed, since Ferrari required several events between the initial presentation and race use.
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The manager also highlighted that the aerodynamic behavior goes beyond the mechanical operation of the wing, involving the recovery of airflow and downforce on the car: “It’s not just the wing, but the downforce on the wing is also the downforce on the entire car,” Stella added, also saying that the results obtained by McLaren were consistent with expectations and allowed a positive evaluation of the concept.
The team also considered it essential to test the system directly on track. Stella stated that, in such a delicate project, data collected in real conditions plays a central role: “We would never have trusted only the wind tunnel for such a delicate project,” concluded the McLaren chief.
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