What's really going on as McLaren removes new front wing again

McLaren has admitted that its new front wing concept needs more work after again choosing not to race it at Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix.

The world champion team trialled a new front wing concept during practice in Canada a fortnight ago as part of a major update package for the MCL40.

However, it elected to not carry it through that weekend because it was not convinced it was a step forward, especially in terms of delivering driver confidence.

An updated version of the wing was tested in Monaco, but learnings on Friday were limited when Lando Norris stopped early in second practice.

Evaluation continued in final practice with both Norris and Oscar Piastri running it, but in the end McLaren opted to revert to its baseline version of wings from qualifying.

The outlier nature of the Monaco track was always going to make it hard to fully understand the benefits of the new wing, but team principal Andrea Stella said McLaren saw enough to understand that the design needs more refinement.

Stella said there were "a few more developments coming for the next races" with further testing planned.

"In reality, the behaviour of the front wing, which is closer to the expectation, requires a bit more work," he said. "So we will definitely see once more this front wing in the coming events."

Stella was not worried that the wing was not working from the off, as he said it was essential McLaren spent its time getting it to work properly rather than rushing through something it was not totally sure about.

"It's very important that we do this characterisation very well because, based on this front wing, there will be several developments," he said.

"In itself this front wing wasn't expected to be a large step from a number point of view, it was more the beginning of a new concept.

"So we wanted to spend enough time, and definitely after Canada there were a couple of things that we needed to rectify, let me say.

"But here we are very close to the expectation. I think we are happy with the data we have seen, and from this point onwards, we will start introducing the developments that are based on this new front wing."

Car characteristics

McLaren has not been as strong in Monaco as it had perhaps hoped, with Piastri starting from seventh on the grid and Norris one place further back.

But Stella was clear that the team never expected to be a frontrunner due to two separate factors: a lack of downforce and it having pursued a design concept that is gentle on tyres, so not ideal for low-energy circuits.

But even taking into account the circuit not suiting McLaren, Stella said there was no escaping the fact the team needed to make a push with car upgrades.

"It would be a false expectation if you think that we go to a circuit with different characteristics, and now McLaren fights for pole position," he said.

"I think this is a bit too optimistic. We know that we have large opportunities in terms of improving the car aerodynamically and the way the car interacts with the tyres, and it's just for us to go and materialise these opportunities.

"We're not really hoping for a circuit characteristic. We need to focus on ourselves and improve the car."

And although the new front wing may not have hit the ground running, Stella said he was not concerned that meant there was a correlation problem between the factory and the track.

"I still think that the rigorous and effective car development remains a point of strength of our team," he said.

"We have to say that in the past, when we were delivering packages, they were also very consistent in terms of the downforce that we were able to add to the car.

"Because there is so much margin of development, we are adding new components more and more. As soon as they are ready, we add them to the car, because we want to learn as much as possible about the new components and how they behave.

"The aerodynamics of the car is not very mature as a consequence of changes in regulations, so we will see more of many parts very often, rather than single packages at specific events."