McLaren explain reason behind 'disappointing' last-minute upgrade removal

McLaren technical director Neil Houldey has explained the "disappointing" reason behind the last-minute removal of its upside-down rear wing at the Red Bull Ring.

The Woking-based outfit was set to introduce its own version of an upside-down rear wing, as used by Ferrari and Red Bull for much of the season.

McLaren's plan was for Lando Norris to use it in first practice, while Oscar Piastri was to be fitted with an older rear wing for all sessions.

The upside-down rear wing was never going to be used in competitive sessions at the Austrian Grand Prix, with first practice likely to be its only appearance in order to gather data.

It is very much an upgrade that is still in development; however, the decision was made at the last minute not to run it at all this weekend. As a result, Norris' car reverted to the older rear wing.

According to Houldey, the rear wing was removed before first practice because it was not performing "as expected" during final checks, meaning more work is needed before it can be used.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to run the experimental wing we brought to the track," said Houldey. 

"The team at the factory worked tirelessly to get it here, but during final sign-off tests in the garage, it didn't perform as expected, and we weren't comfortable running it. 

"The correct decision was to focus our track time on optimising the current package for this weekend. 

"It’s disappointing, but we will conduct more work on the component before bringing it to a future event."