McLaren target crucial Red Bull weapon on F1 'to-do list'

McLaren is pursuing Red Bull's powerful DRS and beam wing configuration with its latest updates after the summer break.

The team brought the first step of this update to the Belgian Grand Prix, with a concept that is close to mimicking that seen on the RB19.

This involves using a larger rear wing surface, which increases drag but produces a larger DRS benefit when activated. This is then compensated with a beam wing further down near the exhaust.

McLaren believes this is one of the main development opportunities heading into the second half of the season, with the team running a similar configuration at Spa-Francorchamps along with a double-element beam wing.

Team Principal Andrea Stella told media, including RacingNews365: "The underlying level of drag is more, it has to do with the overall configuration of the car.

"Red Bull has done a very good job of having a car that is low drag independent of the rear wing.

"If I take our case specifically - like in Spa - the main opportunity is to keep working on the rear wing. This is something that was on our to-do list, but kind of we are not there yet.

"So I think the main opportunity for us is on the rear wing. But overall, the impact on drag comes actually from the entire car."

Red Bull has lots of experience with this concept

Highlighting why Red Bull has such dominance over the rest of the field with its component, Stella explained: "They seem to have pursued this concept for some time.

"I think they may be taking some advantage from having had a lot of experience in developing this kind of configuration. This has now become apparent over time.

"All teams now will try and see what is possible to exploit by developing in this kind of direction."