McLaren admits it missed Ferrari’s rotating rear-wing opportunity

McLaren targets post-summer debut for rotating rear wing

McLaren technical director Neil Houldey has admitted the team was “disappointed” not to identify the potential of the rotating rear-wing concept as quickly as Ferrari, which pioneered the design during 2026 winter testing.

McLaren followed with a different three-link mechanism, but its route to a race-ready solution has not been straightforward. The team abandoned a planned practice test in Austria after discovering an issue in the garage. Further factory development followed before the wing was trialled successfully as a test item in Hungary, with a race debut expected after the summer shutdown.

Houldey explains the delay

Asked about Ferrari’s early lead, Houldey said McLaren recognised the opportunity almost immediately, but did not make it the team’s primary project.

“We were disappointed not to pick that up as quickly as Ferrari did and then Red Bull,” Houldey said. “As soon as we saw it, we realised there was an opportunity there and we looked into it for a while.”

He explained that McLaren prioritised other major performance upgrades while continuing work on the rotating wing in the background. The team conducted laboratory testing before bringing it to Austria, where the garage issue forced it back to the factory.

“We think we’ve now found a concept that works and we’ve created a reliable solution,” Houldey said, while acknowledging that McLaren understood there were aerodynamic risks involved.

Reliability remains the key challenge

Red Bull’s problems demonstrated the danger of getting the activation process wrong. Verstappen’s spins were linked to the first version of its wing taking longer than expected to close, delaying the return of the anticipated downforce.

Houldey said the principal concern was the time required for activation and for aerodynamic load to return when the system was reactivated. McLaren is therefore focusing not only on the potential performance gain, but also on delivering a dependable package.

The team’s current plan is to incorporate the concept into its next rear-wing generation, with the upgrade expected to appear on the race car within the next few races.