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McLaren has acknowledged that its new front wing concept requires further development after once again electing not to race it, this time at the Monaco Grand Prix. The world champion team had first trialled the concept during practice at the Canadian Grand Prix, where it arrived as part of a broader update package for the MCL40. It was ultimately left out of the race in Canada, with the team unconvinced the design represented a genuine step forward — particularly in terms of generating driver confidence.
An updated iteration of the wing was evaluated in Monaco, but data collection on Friday was immediately compromised when Lando Norris was forced to stop early in second practice. An electrical fault was later confirmed as the cause of his FP2 retirement, robbing the team of valuable running time with the new specification. Both Norris and Oscar Piastri were subsequently able to assess the wing during final practice, but McLaren ultimately reverted to its baseline front wing configuration ahead of qualifying.
Team principal Andrea Stella was candid in his assessment, accepting that Monaco's unique characteristics made it a difficult venue for meaningful aerodynamic evaluation. He nonetheless insisted the team had gathered enough data to draw clear conclusions.
"In reality, the behaviour of the front wing, which is closer to the expectation, requires a bit more work," Stella said. "So we will definitely see once more this front wing in the coming events."
Crucially, Stella framed the wing not as a standalone performance upgrade, but as the foundation for a wider development direction. Getting the baseline right is therefore essential before any derivative components can be added to the car.
"It's very important that we do this characterisation very well because, based on this front wing, there will be several developments," he explained. "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."
He added that a handful of specific issues identified in Canada had been addressed, and that the Monaco data left the team in a position to move forward with confidence: "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."
McLaren's Monaco weekend was underwhelming on a competitive level, with Piastri qualifying seventh and Norris eighth. Stella, however, refused to view this as a crisis. He pointed to two structural factors: the MCL40 is running with insufficient downforce for Monaco, and its tyre-friendly design philosophy is better suited to high-energy circuits than the energy-starved streets of Monte Carlo.
Still, Stella was clear-eyed that circuit characteristics could not be used as an excuse indefinitely. "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 need to focus on ourselves and improve the car."
On the question of factory-to-track correlation, Stella pushed back firmly against any suggestion McLaren was facing a fundamental problem. He pointed to the team's consistent ability to deliver downforce gains through its development programme, and stressed that with regulations still immature, a high cadence of individual component tests — rather than single large packages — is the deliberate strategy going forward.
"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," Stella concluded.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.