In Formula 1, achieving victory involves a journey that begins far from the track and culminates there. Politics – technology – track: this sequence often makes the difference. Let’s use 2024 as an example. At the start of the season, Red Bull was the car to beat, as demonstrated by its performance. Max Verstappen accumulated a lead that secured him the drivers’ title.
However, McLaren gained the upper hand by focusing on the front wing. The updates introduced by Woking in Miami and their subsequent revisions resulted in an adaptive front wing that improved car balance, outperforming the Red Bull RB20. This car struggled with issues that had been masked in previous seasons by its significant advantage.
McLaren’s Winning Technical Move Against Red Bull
Pierre Waché, Red Bull’s technical director, explained the advantage McLaren gained with its flexible front wing:
“To rebalance the car without a flexible wing, you need some movement in the suspension. The softer it is, the better, as it helps adjust balance but may compromise aerodynamic load. McLaren’s flexible front wing allowed them to rebalance the car while maintaining stiffer suspensions.”
Mercedes, recognizing the benefits of McLaren’s solution, followed suit by designing a more flexible front wing. These wings, compliant with all static load and deflection tests, allowed for a more aggressive flap angle, mitigating low-speed understeer. When the elements flex downward at high speeds, the wing “detunes,” reducing aerodynamic load on the front and addressing high-speed oversteer.
The narrow window between low-speed understeer and high-speed oversteer is the main limitation of this generation of cars. An aeroelastic front wing is a powerful tool to bypass this constraint.
Without such a wing, any balance adjustments must rely on mechanical aspects: suspension, damping, differential, etc. Effective changes require softer suspensions for greater responsiveness, which limits aerodynamic load at high speeds, as the car lowers too close to the ground. To prevent excessive lowering, teams must use higher ride heights and stiffer springs, reducing maximum downforce from the underbody.
Red Bull, constrained by technical factors, development limitations, and budget caps, couldn’t add sufficient aerodynamic load to the RB20 without compromising its balance. This resulted in chronic difficulties in finding the right setup.
The Red Bull RB21 Must Adapt to McLaren’s System
For 2025, Red Bull aims to overcome these challenges. Their initial strategy was to push politically for stricter regulations on front wing flexibility.
A regulatory battle unfolded, with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari (albeit to a lesser extent) opposing changes to maintain their advantage. On the other side, Red Bull pushed for limitations.
Nicolas Tombazis, the FIA’s head of single-seaters, indirectly confirmed Red Bull’s political and technical defeat. During the 2024 season, the FIA introduced cameras on fixed parts of the car, marking aerodynamic components with colored stickers to monitor flexing. Tombazis expressed satisfaction with the findings and stated that no changes would be made for 2025, the final year under the current regulatory framework.
“We’re quite satisfied with what we’ve observed,” Tombazis told *Autosport*. “Testing front wings is particularly challenging because of the variability among cars. Most tests measure load in specific positions, but front wing variations make this difficult. We made it clear as early as 2022 that we didn’t plan to introduce further tests on front wings, and we’ve stuck to that.”
This decision means that the evaluation metrics for front wings will remain unchanged, leaving teams like Red Bull to adapt. In this Venturi-effect era, the front wing plays a decisive role in a car’s behavior across speed ranges.
While Red Bull had initially outpaced rivals with superior principles, McLaren demonstrated a better understanding of front wing dynamics in 2024.
Red Bull Must “Copy” McLaren
The departure of Adrian Newey, a pivotal figure, has hindered Red Bull’s ability to adapt the RB20 as effectively as McLaren’s MCL38. With the FIA confirming no changes to static tests or flexibility regulations, Red Bull must act swiftly to avoid starting 2025 with a significant deficit.
2024 showed how an early advantage can make all the difference. If Red Bull fails to close the gap, 2025 could be a challenging year for Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson.
For now, this political defeat could have serious technical repercussions. The additional wind tunnel and CFD hours awarded to Red Bull, as the third-place finisher in the Constructors’ Championship, may help them close the gap. Pierre Waché and his team must respond quickly to avoid losing the Constructors’ title. Will they succeed?
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