Flexiwings 2025

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only merc updated front wing and so had to update rear wing as well

For aero balance reasons?

[AR3-GP]

only merc updated front wing and so had to update rear wing as well

This makes a lot of sense too. The front wing no longer backs off as much so the rear wing can’t be allowed to drop off otherwise the aero balance would shift forward too much in the high speed.

[Vanja #66]

For aero balance reasons?

This makes a lot of sense too. The front wing no longer backs off as much so the rear wing can’t be allowed to drop off otherwise the aero balance would shift forward too much in the high speed.

yup, to both

[AR3-GP]

According to the team, through the words of team principal Bradley Lord (he replaced the absent Toto Wolff), the new wing was made its debut at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola because it was more performing than the previous one.

"We brought a new front wing here because it is more performing than the old one, so we want to improve the performance of the car as quickly as possible."

It seems that for a number of reasons (technical, logistical, and PR), Mercedes found it more convenient to take the hit in Imola. Bradley Lord, communications director, has years of experience with making official communications sound "in the right way". So I'm cynical

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-me ... /10724522/

[Farnborough]

According to the team, through the words of team principal Bradley Lord (he replaced the absent Toto Wolff), the new wing was made its debut at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola because it was more performing than the previous one.

"We brought a new front wing here because it is more performing than the old one, so we want to improve the performance of the car as quickly as possible."

It seems that for a number of reasons (technical, logistical, and PR), Mercedes found it more convenient to take the hit in Imola. Bradley Lord, communications director, has years of experience with making official communications sound "in the right way". So I'm cynical

https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-me ... /10724522/

It should have the PR "attribute" of looking relatively better, in overall terms, at Barcelona IF others suffer a similar drop at that race.

PR always the professional representation of spin

Could be explained as team coming to terms with setting up their new advanced aero package.

[AR3-GP]

In Spain the revised TD018 set to restrict front wing flexion will be implemented and some believe this will be a game changer, like the Scuderia's team principal Frederic Vasseur. However, Hamilton, apparently disagrees with the Frenchman's view.
"It definitely will have an effect. It affects balance a little bit, but I don't think it's massive. It affects everyone pretty much the same so I can't see it making much difference."

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/hamilton ... ain-either

[FNTC]

There is no way it will affect "everyone pretty much the same". Some have been exploiting this more than others lately. We will see after Barcelona qualifying who has been hit the most. But some teams also have rear wings that bend back more than others, which I believe is not part of this TD.

[AR3-GP]

Another championship begins next weekend in Spain: the introduction of the new directive on the flexibility of the wings forces the teams to bring new updates. However, for the Mercedes team principal, a revolution is not to be expected: "All teams have a flexible wing. Everyone has to change, including us. Normally there is no big difference when everyone has to intervene."

https://autoracer.it/it/f1-russell-anto ... intervista

[_cerber1]

McLaren wing in Monaco, lap 60. I can't say it flexes as much as before.

[f1isgood]

McLaren wing in Monaco, lap 60. I can't say it flexes as much as before.

https://iimg.su/i/RvEXub

https://iimg.su/i/XCU0hg

Not sure Monaco is the best place to judge this wing stuff. We will know on Friday already during FP2. In any case Stella is confident that they will demolish Red Bull at Spain (apparently he told it to some Sky reporter from Italy). So don't think it'll affect McLaren one bit.

[AR3-GP]

I wanted to assess claims that Mclaren have switched to a TD compliant front wing. I made gifs showing the car at top speed entering a braking zone. In order to draw the correct conclusions, it is necessary to evaluate the wing under the same operating conditions. The wing spec (high or low downforce) must be similar and the speeds must be similar. That is done to ensure that the wing experiences similar aero loads. Without similar loads, the comparisons are invalid as they are not like for like. For example, a low downforce wing can't be compared with a high downforce wing and deflection when braking from 300km/h down to 100km/h can't be compared to that between 330km/h and 80km/h.

These gifs (Except Imola) are all done braking into low speed corners (70-80kmh) from a top speed of ~330km/h.
 
COTA 2024:


Abu Dhabi 2024:


Bahrain 2025:


Miami 2025:


I'm breaking a rule by including Imola (braking into a higher speed corner than the others), but it's still interesting as the wing still moves quite a bit.
Imola 2025:


It could be a trick of the cameras angles year over year, but from here it seems like the upper flap element was slightly larger last year. It could also be down to flap angle adjustments, but I feel it's a consistent observation in multiple races where that wing spec was used in 2024 (also looked at Spain '24 where flap was large). Las Vegas had lots of flap trimming for top speed.

If that uppermost flap is smaller this year in the medium/high downforce spec, it's also difficult to conclude if that was done because Mclaren simply wanted less drag/load from the front, or if it's the result of intending to run a stiffer wing. If intent was to make it stiffer, then they could have chosen to reduce the size of that upper flap to cut load and drag since it won't flex as much but the difference in flex is minimal. Considering that 2025 fw appears to have a slightly smaller upper flap, then it's range of motion is still quite large and I don't think that this wing is compliant with TD018. Load reduction is not the same as stiffness. It was also demonstrated earlier in the thread that the Mclaren wing is moving much more than Merc's TD018 compliant wing.

Red Bull's wing for this year also clearly moves more than last year. I don't think their front wing is TD compliant at the moment either. As has been said by several team bosses already, everyone will have to bring stiffer front wings to Spain.

[FittingMechanics]

McLaren tested their Monaco wing in Imola. They tested their new post Monaco medium-high downforce wing in Monaco.

I would be surprised if they did not debut/test their new front wing, if they need to change it. In fact, I'd say that because they haven't brought one that there is no new wing or the changes are purely structural (more rigid) with no change in geometry.

From rear wing testing it seems they prefer to do a run on the track, check the correlation and understand the data and only then bring it onto the car in following races.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

So, was it Barcelona where the flexi-wings were banned? Is it going to hit hard for McLaren?

[101FlyingDutchman]

So, was it Barcelona where the flexi-wings were banned? Is it going to hit hard for McLaren?

Yes and no

[Vanja #66]

They tested their new post Monaco medium-high downforce wing in Monaco.

when was this, I didn't notice?