FIA’s new rear wing test ‘directed at other teams, not us’

Lando Norris says the FIA’s change to its rear wing regulations is not targeted at McLaren and will not affect their car’s performance in this weekend’s round.

The sport’s governing body will impose a tougher rear wing deflection test from the Chinese Grand Prix. It is intended to prevent teams using wings which deform under high loads, and therefore reduce the drag they generate and permit higher top speeds.

McLaren was accused of running such a wing at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year, as its edges appeared to move on the long straights at Baku. The team changed its wing design following conversations with the FIA.

The area of the rules has remained a focus for the FIA. It originally intended to introduce a tougher rear wing deflection test at the Spanish Grand Prix in June, then announced the latest change to how it measures wings three days ago.

Norris won the season-opening round in Melbourne last weekend, pulling over 18 seconds clear of McLaren’s closest pursuers at one stage. However he is adamant the change is neither targeted at McLaren nor likely to affect them.

“We don’t have to change anything,” he said. “Ours is fine. In fact, ours was probably too good and we probably are not pushing the limits enough, honestly.

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“So no, if this technical directive was applied for last weekend, we’d also be fine.”

He believes McLaren could be more aggressive with its current rear wing design. “It’s not directed at us, it seems it’s directed at other teams, which probably means we need to push it a little bit more.”

Although Norris was pleased with the MCL39’s performance at Melbourne, where it was almost four-tenths of a second faster than any other car in qualifying, he wants McLaren to make it easier to drive.

“From a car point of view, the car’s doing and performing well,” he said. “But it’s still extremely difficult to drive.

“We know in certain conditions, like in the wettest conditions, Max [Verstappen] was just as quick as us. In the drier conditions, we were a bit better. So [we’re] just making the car a little bit more predictable and a little bit more comfortable.

“But it’s at a good point, I can’t complain about the whole thing, it’s at a good level. But between Oscar [Piastri] and myself, there are things that we both comment on which give the guys and the girls back in the factory a clear direction on what we want to improve. Yes, the car’s great, but we always want more.

This article will be updated