- McLaren confirms it has studied Ferrari & Red Bull’s rotating rear wings.
- Chief designer Rob Marshall initially questioned ‘Macarena’ wing’s legality.
- Miami double podium has sharpened McLaren appetite for technical move.
McLaren is considering whether to adopt the rotating rear wing concept that Ferrari and Red Bull have already introduced in 2026.
Team boss Zak Brown said the reigning constructors’ champions had studied both designs and found the technology “beneficial.”
The disclosure came after McLaren’s double podium at the Miami Grand Prix, where an upgrade package delivered their most competitive weekend of the season so far.
The wing, nicknamed the ‘Macarena’ because of the way the flap flips during activation, reduces drag on the straights by rotating significantly beyond the range of a conventional DRS system.
Ferrari showed it first during pre-season testing in Bahrain. Red Bull then debuted their own version at Miami.
From scepticism to serious interest
McLaren’s chief designer, Rob Marshall, admitted the Ferrari wing caused genuine confusion in the paddock when it first appeared.
“The rear wing, everyone saw it and thought, ‘Oh, I see, no problem.’ So I asked if it was really legal, and they said, ‘No problem,'” Marshall said.
The FIA’s single-seater technical chief, Nikolas Tombazis, confirmed the design was legal under the 2026 regulations.
With the legality question settled, McLaren shifted to assessing the performance implications. Marshall said the team evaluates every rival innovation methodically.
“We look at everything,” he said. “Some ideas are discarded immediately just by reading the regulations; others remain open.”
He added that some concepts reach the wind tunnel or CFD stage, while others stay at the level of theory.
Red Bull joins the party, and McLaren takes note
Red Bull introduced their interpretation of the concept at Miami, though the team was clear that their design was not borrowed from Ferrari.
The team said they had submitted initial ideas to the FIA the previous year, shortly after Ferrari, but could not bring the wing to the track earlier in the season.
The two designs differ in how far the flap rotates. Ferrari’s version turns approximately 200 degrees. Red Bull’s moves around 110 to 120 degrees, using modified attachment points between the flap and endplates.
Red Bull prioritised lower mechanical complexity and faster development cycles over maximum rotation.
The concept does carry trade-offs. The flap creates a brief sail-like effect while opening and closing, and the process takes longer than a standard DRS system. Both teams have decided that the straight-line speed gains outweigh those costs.
Brown confirmed McLaren had looked closely at what their rivals were doing.
“We have,” he told Sky F1 as reported by PlanetF1. “As you can imagine, all the teams look at what each other do. It’s clever, and we think it could be beneficial, so not surprised to see another team using it.”
McLaren’s Miami momentum builds the case
Brown’s comments about the wing gained added significance given McLaren’s form that weekend. The team scored 48 points across the sprint and the grand prix, their highest single-weekend total of the season.
Lando Norris won the sprint by 3.8 seconds from Oscar Piastri, ending Mercedes’ unbeaten run in 2026. In the main race, Piastri moved from seventh to third, passing Charles Leclerc on the final lap to claim his second podium of the year.
A seven-part upgrade package covering the front wing, nose cone, sidepods, engine cover, floor and rear wing drove the improvement.
Norris urged caution when assessing what it meant for the broader season.
“I think you’d have to feel silly if you don’t feel confident about the future when we improved so much this weekend,” he said, while acknowledging that more races are needed to measure how competitive McLaren truly is.
Piastri echoed that restraint. “We expected the upgrades to be a good step forward, and they have been, and hopefully they are again in Canada,” he said.
He noted that Mercedes had held back upgrades at Miami and would bring them to Canada, adding uncertainty to the picture.
The championship picture and what comes next
McLaren sits third in the constructors’ standings, 16 points behind Ferrari and 86 adrift of Mercedes.
The team plans further upgrades for the Canadian Grand Prix and is now weighing the rotating rear wing as a future development direction.
Brown said he believed the gaps between teams were already narrowing.
“If you look at the lap times now compared to Australia, the whole field is starting to get consolidated,” he said. “So I think in not too short order, we’ll be back to where we were with a very competitive, tight grid.”
Whether McLaren can produce their own version of the wing in time to influence the title fight remains the central question.
Miami showed they can turn upgrades into results quickly. The ‘Macarena’ would represent a more fundamental step, and how fast they can take it may shape the rest of their season.
