McLaren and Mercedes front wing investigation demand after huge F1 shake-up

Losing to McLaren and Mercedes in qualifying at Monza, Helmut Marko called for the front wing of both cars to be “analysed”, prompting a “here we go” response from leading F1 pundit Damon Hill.

McLaren locked out the front row of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix with Lando Norris taking pole pole position ahead of Oscar Piastri while George Russell was third quickest in the Mercedes.

Helmut Marko wants the McLaren and Mercedes front wings analysed

In a Q3 where the top six were separated by less than two tenths of a second, Lewis Hamilton also made the cut in sixth place. Red Bull did not.

Max Verstappen was only seventh quickest, 0.695s off Norris’ pace, with his team-mate Sergio Perez a further 0.04s back.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko cried foul.

Speaking to ORF after qualifying, the 81-year-old said: “The front wing of McLaren and Mercedes must be analysed.”

His comment caught the attention of 1996 F1 World Champion Hill, who took to X in a simple message but one that made his thoughts on that very clear.

Marko’s comment about the McLaren and Mercedes front wing comes in the wake of Christian Horner drawing attention to both after Red Bull’s crushing defeat at the Dutch Grand Prix.

“I think it’s more where have the others found performance,” he said after Norris beat Verstappen by 23 seconds at Zandvoort. “I think the front wing is a key area where others have found some performance.

“The way the front wings are being used are quite different.

“If you look at the front wing angle of McLaren and Mercedes, they’re very, very different. Very different to that rest of the grid.”

Front wings, and especially flexi front wings, are not a new hot topic in Formula 1 with the FIA even going as far as to attach additional cameras to some cars wings to have a closer look earlier this year.

It had Dutch pundit Tom Coronel telling Viaplay : “Everyone wants to know McLaren’s secret, because it’s worth a lot of money.

“If you do well with high downforce and low downforce, like Zandvoort and now Monza, and you’re good with tyre management everywhere, then they’re going to be collecting big trophies for the rest of the season.”

McLaren’s front wing, however, was no match for Ferrari’s one-stop strategy in the Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc used that to beat Oscar Piastri to the line by 2.6s with Lando Norris P3.

But with a double podium on the day, McLaren outscored Red Bull by 21 points to close the gap in the Constructors’ Championship to nine points with eight races remaining.

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