McLaren’s flexible winger, Zak Brown holds his head high: “We offered to change it”

The controversy over the mini-Drs McLaren

It’s Friday’s free practice for the Singapore GP, but in Marina Bay the talk is still more about the controversy of the week than the action on the track. After the discussions on the flex of the McLaren rear wing, later called “mini-Drs” following the Baku race in which the benefits of the idea became evident, on the eve of the weekend it was the FIA ​​that intervened first hand: first with a threatening statement in which the Federation reminded that it has the power to ask for changes at any time (and not only with a view to 2025, as initially established) and then also through the indiscretion according to which McLaren has already been forced to intervene on the wing structure to avoid the opening of the Drs flap at high speeds. The rumor was later confirmed in a note from McLaren itself, which essentially said that the incident would not happen again in the future.

Zak Brown Speaks

A half-way political victory for Ferrari and Red Bull, who have indeed obtained an intervention to the detriment of their rivals, but which is in fact almost irrelevant to the continuation of the season: the offending wing is in fact the low-downforce one, which McLaren would not have used again anyway except in the Las Vegas GP scheduled in more than two months. A victory so incomplete that, in the end, the only one to smile is the CEO. Zak Brownparticularly relaxed on Sky microphones after FP2: “We were the ones who offered to change the rear wing. Obviously it was discussed in the paddock between Baku and here, so we proposed to the FIA ​​to make a small change to the rear wing and they accepted our request.. How much will it affect our performance? Well, I don’t think we would have offered to make a change if we thought it would make a big difference to our lap times.”.

The “Papaya Rules”

There was also an opportunity to return to the topic of the “Papaya rules”, the rules of engagement between Norris and Piastri: “We will see how the next races will develop and what the positions of our drivers will be. We We will do everything we can to assist Lando in his fight for the title, but without damaging Oscar’s race. There is certainly the intention to win with Lando, but we need to see how the GPs evolve. Constructors’ title? There are three teams fighting and considering how close we are in the standings it is clear that one race can already change the whole situation. We certainly feel good, but there are many races and also many developments. A bit of luck or bad luck will be enough to have big changes. It will be a great battle until the end of the year”.