FIA clampdown on Macarena wings for 2027
The FIA has moved to stop teams developing more outlandish 'Macarena' wing designs for 2027 with a tightening up of Formula 1's technical rules.
As part of a push by some teams to reduce drag on the straights with the new 2026 cars, several of them have run rotating rear wings that flip upside down.
Ferrari started the trend by running its Macarena design in pre-season testing, bringing it to a grand prix weekend from round two in China, and racing it from round five in Miami in May - where Red Bull also had its own design ready to race.
McLaren has since followed suit with what it calls its 'H-wing', which was first raced at the Italian Grand Prix last month.
The designs were all given the green light by the FIA, which was satisfied that the concepts were legal as long as they fulfilled a requirement for the transition between straight mode and corner mode to last no more than 400 milliseconds.
The FIA also conducted some checks of the Red Bull and Ferrari wings after the British GP in July in the wake of a crash that Max Verstappen suffered in the race that was linked to a problem in this area.
Inspections left the FIA satisfied that the designs were safe and that measures Red Bull had taken to modify its wing were enough for it to continue racing with it.
However, mindful about the complexities of Macarena wings, and aware of the potential for rivals to start exploiting the transition allowance to the maximum, the FIA has pushed through changes to the rules for 2027 to tighten things up.
The 400ms allowance is to be cut by 25% for next year, with teams now having to ensure that the maximum transition time between straight mode and corner mode is 300ms.
Sources have suggested that the designs currently raced by Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren should be able to comply with this new limit without extensive modification - even if it may mean a bit more work to ensure there are no risks of breaking the new maximum time.
Ferrari could face a bigger challenge than its rivals to get there, however, because its wing rotates the most.
Its upper flap flips all the way through a full 270-degrees, whereas the Red Bull and McLaren designs move around 150-160-degrees.
Travelling through a greater rotation will in theory take slightly longer, but sources suggest that the 300ms transition should still be achievable with the way that Ferrari design works.
Despite the tightening up of the Macarena wings, other teams are likely to evaluate the designs for next year as there are clear gains to be had from the system.
