Last Updated on January 31 2025, 11:46 am
McLaren concluded a long Formula One journey in the wilderness in 2024 as the second oldest team in the sport finally claimed the constructors’ championship. The Woking based team’s last end of season silverware was whenLewis Hamilton claimed his maiden drivers’ title way back in 2008.
Prior to that it was 1998 when the team last were top of the pile come the season finale, yet the resurgence was not unexpected given the way McLaren recovered from a shocking start in 2023 to finish the year as the main challengers to Max and Red Bull.
Again in 2024, McLaren were not quickly out of the blocks and after just four rounds were 72 points adrift of Red Bull Racing. Yet come the final run across two triple header weekends, the papaya liveried cars came to the fore overtaking Red Bull in the constructors’ while Lando Norris pushed to catch Max Verstappen.
Massive turnaround at McLaren
They completed a massive 148 point turnaround over Red Bull finishing a whopping 77 points ahead of the former world champions. Yet McLaren’s season was not without controversy as Red Bull and Ferrari complained to the FIA in May that the wings on the MCL38 appeared to be flexing way more than was allowable.
F1’s governing body, ditched for a while before announcing they would be placing camera’s on the cars for the Belgian Grand Prix before the summer break, to see if the flex was bigger than the expected tolerance demanded by the rules.
The resulting decision form the FIA was that there was nothing they could find illegal in McLaren’s construction and so the race for Ferrari and Red Bull began as they sought to develop their own versions of the Woking team’s flexing wings.
Ferrari nailed the upgrade for the end of year run in and it was the Scuderia who were now homing in on McLaren’s lead in the championship. The Italians finished the year the strongest closing the gap to McLaren over the final six weekends from 75 points to just 14 as the chequered flag fell in Abu Dhabi.
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Ferrari boss accuses FIA of delay
Team boss Fred Vasseur appeared aggrieved come the end of the year as he explained how the delayed decision from the FIA cost his team valuable development time. “There was frustration because at one stage we were waiting for the decision of the FIA when they installed the cameras [from the Belgian GP],” Vasseur told motorsport.com.
“We were convinced that it will go for the ‘no go’. And it went for the ‘go’! So probably we lost one or two months.
“It’s difficult because with the cost cap you have to make your choices. It means that if you are convinced that it won’t be allowed, and you have start to develop something, then it’s costing you a time in the wind tunnel. But it was our decision.”
Clearly once Ferrari received the green light for their own version of the flexi-wing, the SF-24 came alive and was the quickest on the grid. Juts days not this new year, the FIA’s head of single seater racing addressed the issue of the flexi wings.
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“Obviously, there was a lot of hoo-hah about it during the summer and early autumn,” said Nicolas Tombazis. “We had made it quite clear to teams since 2022 at least, that we were not planning to introduce any further tests on the front wing and we stuck to that.”
“One of the challenges in the front wing is that, compared to other parts of the car, the front wing loading is much more varied between cars in a given location and so on. So most tests relate to the load of a certain direction, certain position of application, certain magnitude must not produce a deformation.
“The most successful such tests imitate as much as possible what happens in real life with loads and, on the earlier wing for example, it’s reasonably successful. On the front wing, the variety between cars would make that quite difficult,” he concluded.
Now AutoRacer is reporting the FIA may have had a change of mind as the technical team are now focused on reducing the flexibility of the front wings. A directive is said to be planned to be introduced for three races scheduled in May, Miami (4th), Emilia Romagna (18th) and Monaco (25th).
Apparent FIA U-Turn
Further, the sport’s governing body is also debating whether to introduce stricter rear-wing checks. McLaren had to modify a ‘mini-DRS’ design that caused uproar among their rivals. Despite having passed the FIA in season flexing tests, McLaren were forced to modify their cleverer wing which was dubbed in the media as a “mini DRS.”
Under the old system a team wold protest the legality of the McLaren component and then the FIA officials had cart blanche to investigate the particular allegation and would then rule whether it was legal or not. The problem with this system was if a team were four to be in a grey area, or even over the line, the FIA wold then be forced to sanction that competitor.
Now all the specifications for every aspect of the car are lodged with the FIA each year making it easier to instigate their own investigations. Further, the FIA can suggest to a team they are concerned about the legality of a component, which is code for “change it” or else you may face sanctions.
This is what happened with McLaren whose Singapore rear wing was notably different, dropping the controversial section described as the “mini DRS.”
It is highly unusual of the FIA to flag up pre-season they will introduce a technical directive and in such a specific fashion. So while the story at present may be sourced in a leak, further details will be emerge when the teams arrive in Bahrain for pre-season testing.
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Red Bull Racing once the masters of the seamless transition of their drivers found themselves wanting during last seasons Formula One campaign. Since the days of Sebastian Vettel, the Milton Keynes based team has their next star driver ready as the current star begins to fade.
Daniel Ricciardo stepped up in 2014, following four years of dominance from Red Bull and his team mate Sebastian Vettel. The youth and enthusiasm of the then young Aussie trounced the experience of his vastly more experienced team mate, who decided after just one year of their partner ship, it was tine to move on to Ferrari.
Max Verstappen too was transitioned from the junior squad alongside Ricciardo in 2016, although it was almost two full years before the Dutch driver got the better of the loveable Ricciardo. Yet since the promotion of Max to the senior team, Red Bull’s seamless supply of young drivers appeared to have dried up…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
