Ferrari: McLaren rear wing legality a ‘black or white’ issue

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has voiced a strong opinion on the controversy surrounding McLaren’s rear wing design, insisting its legality should have been a clear-cut matter for the FIA.

McLaren’s ‘mini DRS’ design as it has been labeled, came under scrutiny after onboard footage revealing its flexing characteristics popped up on social media.

Footage from Oscar Piastri’s car during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix clearly showed the upper element of the rear wing flexing underload to widen the slot gap, thus reducing drag and boosting top speed.

McLaren’s wing was deemed legal by the FIA, having passed its array of load tests during scrutineering. But the footage and pressure from McLaren’s rivals compelled the governing body’s technical representative to have a closer look at the controversial element.

After the FIA said that it reserved the right to order modifications if it felt that the element did not comply with the regulations, McLaren took a pro-active approach and tweaked its rear wing, thus avoiding further legality discussions.

• Read also: McLaren agrees to rear wing changes after complaints

But a frustrated Vasseur, speaking in Singapore, dismissed any ambiguity regarding the rear wing's legality.

“I think there is a kind of confusion between what's happened with the front wing and the rear wing,” said the Scuderia boss on Friday.

“The front wing, we all agree that it could be a grey area because the first paragraph of the TD is saying that you can't design a part of the car with the intention of the deformation. Intention is difficult to manage.

“But the rear wing story, it's completely different because in the article you have also a maximum deflection. And this is black or white. It's no grey, no dark grey, no light grey. It's black and black. And for me, it's clear.”

Vasseur was clearly unhappy with the fact that McLaren was able to utilize its wing design in previous races, suggesting it gave its drivers an unfair advantage at low-downforce circuits such as Monza, where both Piastri and Lando Norris secured podium finishes.

“We all saw the video and the pictures of this,” added the Frenchman. “And it's a bit frustrating when, if you remember perfectly the situation in Monza, we had five cars in two hundredths of a second [actually 0.075s].

“You can move from P1, P2 to P5 or P6 for two hundredths of seconds. In Baku, we arrived 10 laps in a row side by side [in] Turn 1. You can imagine that we have a bit of frustration.”

Vasseur admitted that Ferrari could have considered lodging a protest in Baku but found it difficult to gather the necessary evidence.

“It could have been possible, but it's not so easy to have the evidence,” he said.

“But now, honestly, I want to turn this page, because I want to be focused on the future. Baku and Monza are behind us.

“We have still seven races to go. We have to win this weekend, and it will be the best reply that we can give.”

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