Red Bull watches as McLaren's dominance stays unchanged: what now?

It had been on the agenda for months, but this weekend the regulations around flexible front wings were overhauled. Initially, it was thought that the new technical directive would significantly impact McLaren - the team with the dominant car this year. Verstappen's camp undoubtedly hoped that the British team would have to come up with a completely new front wing, but this turns out not to be the case.

Oscar Piastri revealed during the media day in Barcelona that his teammate had driven with a new version of the front wing 'earlier in the year.' The Australian himself reportedly had not yet had the chance. It was rumored that this 'test' had already taken place during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Inquiries by GPblog confirmed that McLaren indeed ran with the modified front wing during the race weekend in Imola earlier this month.

Although it was not confirmed to be Norris, based on Piastri's statements, we can deduce that it must have been his teammate. For a team to test such a front wing in anticipation of a regulatory change is obviously logical. What is surprising, however, is the fact that it was just a relatively minor adjustment.

In fact, according to the British team, it was not a new front wing at all, but a slightly modified wing. McLaren claims to have only reinforced the old wing here and there, creating enough margin to comply with the regulations. But the most important thing is obviously the impact on the car. According to McLaren, the impact on performance was 'negligible.' This explains why McLaren is the only team that has not brought any new updates to Barcelona this week.

The Woking team indeed seems to be completely unaffected by the TD, seeing as the British racing team topped the timesheets in all free practice sessions this weekend. In FP1, Lando Norris was the fastest man, while Oscar Piastri came fifth. In FP2, it was Piastri who set the fastest time, with his teammate recording the fourth fastest time. In the third and final free practice on Saturday afternoon, McLaren was once again the dominant party. Piastri once again clocked the fastest time, closely followed by Norris in P2.

Nicholas Tombazis, the FIA's technical chief, said prior to this race weekend that the impact on the teams would be quite significant, but in reality, it turns out to be greatly exaggerated. And that's bad news for Red Bull Racing, which undoubtedly hoped to benefit from the new rules. Even if McLaren had lost a few tenths, it would have been enough to give Red Bull a better position in both world championships.

Some disappointment can be seen in advisor Helmut Marko, who, after FP2, told GPblog among others: "The effect of the regulation change is minimal. Only the top four teams are closer together, but McLaren is still the fastest." The regulation changes basically do nothing," concludes the Austrian. And that's something that's being said in the paddock corridors by practically everyone.

The next question is: what now? Should we just let it be, tighten the regulations even more, or perhaps even overhaul the way rear wings are tested? Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said before the weekend that he believes the regulations are steering the sport in the wrong direction.

Asked by GPblog whether the regulation change is the wrong solution for the right problem, he said: "I don't think too much about it, but you might not be wrong. The flexiwings were positive when they were introduced. We got them at Mercedes around this time last year, and it was positive for us. Some got them earlier, some later. But they made this generation of cars much nicer to drive. So it's going in the wrong direction, that's for sure. But this is more about enforcement, so it's important that it's properly enforced from now on," he concluded.