1 week Ago By Michelle
McLaren’s rear wing has passed all the FIA flexi tests, but if you ask Helmut Marko, recent footage taken at the Japanese Grand Prix showed a “different picture”. It is, however, up to the FIA as to what happens next. Last time out at Suzuka, Max Verstappen claimed his first victory of the F1 2025 championship as he held off the chasing McLaren team-mates to win by 1.
4s ahead of Lando Norris with Oscar Piastri in third a further 0.7s down. But while the race wasn’t the most exciting ever, 15 passes in total, the aftermath held a bit of intrigue as footage emerged of McLaren’s rear wing and its widening slot gap on the straights.
Flexi wings were one of the big contentious topics in pre-season, Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Waché telling The Race that it is “quite visible” that some teams’ wings are still flexing despite a clampdown by the FIA. “It is still going on,” he added. “I think McLaren are doing the mini-DRS stuff still.
” 👉 Explained: The FIA clampdown on F1’s ‘flexible wings’ saga 👉 Explained: Why the FIA has introduced even more flexi-wing directives The FIA had issued a revised Technical Directive for the rear wings ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and then went even further with a stricter clampdown on rear wings in China. The new restrictions meant the 10 F1 teams would have to prepare rear wings that flex at a limit of 0.5 mm, down from 2mm under a vertical load-bearing test of 75kg on the mainplane, with a China-only tolerance of 0.
25mm. But in Japan, footage on social media taken from Norris’ rear wing camera as he kept his McLaren team-mate at bay, appeared to show the gap on the McLaren wing increasing and decreasing . But while Jos Verstappen retweeted it, his son accepted there was little he could do to sway the FIA.
“I don’t make the rules and I’m also not the one enforcing them,” Verstappen told media, including PlanetF1.com in Bahrain. “What I see, probably a lot of people see, but that’s it.
” Asked if he had questioned the FIA, he quickly replied: “No, no. I mean, I know what’s going on, but for me, I just focus on our car. It’s the only thing that I can do.
” Marko agrees, saying that while the footage shows something is going on, it’s up to motorsport’s governing body to ensure all the teams are within the regulations. “That is up to the FIA, but when I see Jos’ images, it shows a different picture,” Marko told media including PlanetF1.com in Bahrain.
“Well, that’s up to the FIA. They deal with it, we are not scrutineers..
.” On McLaren’s side, the Woking team has insisted they didn’t have to make any changes to their rear wing ahead of the F1 2025 championship, nor does Piastri believe they’ll be impacted by the front wing clampdown in Spain. “I’m pretty confident we’ll be strong all year,” said the Australian racer.
“I don’t think it’ll change too much. “I’ve not spoken to the team about it massively, in all honesty, which probably tells you enough about that. So yeah, let’s see when we get to Spain, but we’ve still got a lot of races until then and I think we’ll be a strong team all year round.
” Read next: Helmut Marko’s ‘insane’ Suzuka request revealed by former Red Bull driver.
