MCLAREN ADDS A BAT WING
McLaren mounted a bat wing element on Fernando Alonso’s MP4-31, with the Spaniard also racing it on Sunday.
Shaped like a bat, this intriguing winglet, which sits under the cockpit and in between the turning vanes, helps channel the airflow towards the lower sidepods, while also contributing to the Y250 vortex.
First devised by Mercedes in 2014, the bat wing appeared on the 2015-spec Ferrari before the Scuderia replaced it this year with a pair of fins introduced at the British Grand Prix. The Red Bull RB12 has featured a bat wing since its inception, with the device connected to the T-Tray splitter. McLaren’s own interpretation of the bat wing clearly draws its inspiration from the Mercedes design, as one can see above.
