McLaren cause stir with sneaky rear wing upgrade at Zandvoort

McLaren performed as expected in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix, with both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris dominating every segment of the grid-setting session in their MCL39s.

This came as no surprise, but, interestingly, the Woking-based team chose to use a new rear wing that wasn’t included in the FIA's list of submissions.

This high-downforce wing had previously been used only during testing in Bahrain, and therefore, the component could technically be considered not new, exempting it from inclusion in the official FIA update disclosure document.

What is more relevant, however, is the reasoning behind this decision. In theory, this version of the rear wing should have been adopted earlier at other high-downforce circuits, beginning with the Monaco Grand Prix.

However, the need never arose - particularly considering the MCL39’s performance relative to its rivals since the start of the season.

During simulations carried out in preparation for the Dutch GP, McLaren engineers compared various wing configurations previously used on high-downforce tracks.

Interestingly, the selected wing was not the one that offered the best outright performance, but the one that generated the highest downforce.

The decision to use it was not based on lap time advantages, but on its ability to provide maximum downforce - an important factor given Zandvoort’s frequently unstable weather, where rain and low grip are common.

Simulator comparisons conducted in Woking showed that while this version of the rear wing was not optimal in terms of pure performance, the loss was marginal - especially when factoring in the potential performance of rival teams.

In the end, the engineers, led by Rob Marshall, concluded that the MCL39 still held a sufficient advantage over its competitors on tracks like Zandvoort.

In fact, qualifying simulations predicted a half-second advantage, which was borne out in reality, reducing the fight for pole to a battle between Piastri and Norris alone.

As a result, should rain affect the race, the team remains confident and prepared for any surprises.