Tech Analysis | McLaren and Mercedes adopt surprising wing choice in Spain

A very indicative circuit from a technical point of view

The Spanish Circuit is well known for being one of the most representative tracks (from a technical point of view) of the whole calendar, often described as an “open wind tunnel”, where teams can run their cars very stiff and super close to the ground, reproducing the “ideal” simulation conditions. This would clearly help them find out the real performance of their cars and gather data to compare them to the one obtained from CFD, STEM and wind tunnel simulations. 

This layout is mainly characterised by a series of medium and high speed corners, where a high downforce set-up is required, even though the very long finish-line straight requires a very efficient car. Due to the very fast turns 3 and 9, the front-left is the more stressed tyre, which must be looked after, especially in qualifying. The high stress on the tyres and the rough asphalt forced Pirelli to bring the hardest compounds of the range, the C1. C2 and C3, making the Spanish Grand Prix indicative also for what concerns tyre degradation on the long distance. 

The weather could certainly play a big role this weekend, as around a 70% chance of rain is expected for Sunday according to Weather.com, with lower temperatures than the rest of the weekend that will then inevitably affect cars’ ability to put the tyres into the working window. 

Red Bull and Ferrari with high downforce rear wings

As all teams’ updates will be shown only before Friday’s FP1, it’s still interesting to have a look at the rear wings adopted by the top teams. They've opted for very different levels of downforce on the rear axle. 

Red Bull brought two different specs this weekend: the one fitted on Verstappen’s car is a medium-high downforce one, the same one used last time out in Montreal. This rear wing shows a main plane with a very high angle of attack to maximize the air captured and thus the downforce generated, as it has a massive chord. At the same time, the DRS flap shows off quite a pronounced chord with a Gurney flap at the trailing edge. This will better connect the two different pressure areas (above and under the airfoil) and maximize the downforce generated. 

On Perez’s RB20, the Monaco maximum downforce rear wing spec was spotted. Also last year the team decided to adopt this rear wing version, to maximize the downforce generated at the high speeds and in fast corners and better look after the tyres during the race. It’s very likely that Perez and Verstappen will make comparison runs during FP1 before choosing the best one to adopt for the rest of the weekend. 

New major parts are expected for the Milton Keynes team to try to open up the gap to their competitors, even though Verstappen himself is conscious that others are catching up: "I don't think it will be like the beginning of the season. [...] I'm aware that everyone has been catching up a lot so everyone is confident. But if you compare this to the last few races that we have done, this should be a better track."

Ferrari is another team expected to bring major upgrades this weekend, mainly to solve the problems at slow speeds seen since the beginning of the year. The SF-24 also sported a new rear wing spec on Thursday, which is a hybrid between the Imola and the Monaco configuration, designed for medium-high downforce tracks like Barcelona, Qatar and Austin. 

Despite the DRS flap not changing very much, visible changes were spotted on the main plane, which showed off a different leading edge and greater chord than the medium downforce spec adopted last time out in Montreal. 

This rear wing is expected to improve the SF-24's behaviour in the slow speed sections and in traction, despite not completely solving the tyre temperature issues seen in qualifying and on cold weekends like Montreal and China. 

McLaren and Mercedes with a medium downforce rear wing

McLaren and Mercedes quite surprisingly decided to adopt a medium downforce rear wing this weekend, choosing a lower level of downforce than their competitors but for two different reasons. 

On the one hand, the MCL38 is able to generate a lot of downforce from the bodywork of the car and the Venturi channels, making it one of the most “efficient” cars from this point of view on the grid, levelled up with Red Bull’s RB20. This great ability allows the engineers to adopt slightly less loaded rear wings, improving the car’s top speed on the long straights. As said for Red Bull, there’s a high chance that they’ll test two different rear wing (and probably beam wing) versions during Friday’s FP1 and FP2, before choosing the best one for the rest of the weekend. 

On the other hand, Mercedes have decided to adopt this rear wing spec to reduce the drag generated by the W15: being Barcelona a circuit covered at full load for 78% of the lap, having a high top speed is quite a big help. Moreover, this aspect could also help the drivers both attacking and defending during Sunday’s race. 

The team will also gather data on the new front wing introduced in Monaco, which made the W15 extremely quick around Montreal. Although they believe that the atmospheric conditions played a big role last time out, the engineers will have a much better idea of how this component affects the overall balance of the car at this circuit, especially in the high-speed corners. 

In conclusion, much remains to be decided (especially in the Constructors’ Championship), and the second “upgrade wave” expected this weekend could certainly mix things up once again, making flights for victories and podiums even closer and less predictable.