McLaren respond to FIA action over Red Bull bib as Lando Norris advantage for US GP confirmed

McLaren says it’s fully satisfied with the action taken by the FIA over Red Bull’s bib height adjustment device ahead of the United States GP.

The admission by Red Bull of a bib height adjustment device on the RB20 has set tongues wagging ahead of the race in Austin, with the FIA and Red Bull working together on a plan to seal off the adjustment device for peace of mind.

McLaren ‘absolutely satisfied’ by FIA action

With no action taken against Red Bull as, while there’s a theoretical possibility of the device having been accessed under parc fermé conditions against the regulations, there’s no evidence to suggest it was used, McLaren is content with the way the situation has been handled.

Speaking to media ahead of the United States Grand Prix, McLaren technical director of engineering Neil Houldey was asked about the reaction of McLaren to the FIA reaction.

“[We’re] absolutely satisfied,” he said.

“I think what the FIA have done seems to be, from what we understand and what we’ve read in the press, seems like they’ve made the right decisions on that, on that piece of infrastructure.”

With McLaren and Red Bull both coming under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over technical aspects of their cars, Houldey said it’s symptomatic of being at the sharp end of the grid.

“From our perspective, we’re fully focused on our own technical development, and it’s important for us to just focus on where we are and what we bring to the races and not what other teams are doing,” he said.

“So our focus is on ourselves rather than the others.

“I think we’re learning what it’s like to be back in front again. So for sure, the scrutiny that it brings is new to us, and I think we’re dealing with it in the right way.”

More on McLaren in F1

👉 Who is Andrea Stella? From Michael Schumacher’s engineer to McLaren team principal

👉 Zak Brown car collection: The legendary machines owned by the McLaren boss

McLaren to give updated front wing to Lando Norris

For this weekend’s action at the United States Grand Prix, Mclaren has brought along several upgrades for the MCL38.

The front wing and front suspension have been modified to improve aerodynamic load, while the front brake ducts have also been updated to complement the changes, with a low-cooling design, suited to COTA, brought in as part of this.

McLaren is also looking to improve aerodynamic load generation on the rear of the MCL38 with modified rear suspension fairings, while there is a reworked rear brake duct cooling exit to boost efficiency. McLaren has also brought a single-element beam wing to Austin to efficiently reduce drag working in conjunction with the high downforce rear wing.

But just one example of the updated front wing has been manufactured in time for COTA, and it will be Lando Norris who benefits from it once the competitive sessions get underway.

“Everything, apart from the front wing, we’ve got quantities of that both drivers can use,” he explained.

“The front wing, we’ve only got one of at this event, so we’re going to run that with both drivers in the practice sessions, and then it’s going to be given to Lando for the rest of the weekend.”

Elaborating on the updates, he said: “We’ve brought a lot of small upgrades for this event. I don’t really want to go into too many details about what will appear at the next events, but there’ll be more coming, for sure!

“What we’ve been doing is just continuing our development progress throughout the year. at the moment, it turns out, really, that what we want to do is bring something that we know works.

“So we’re not trying to deliver something early. We’re in a good position in the championship, but what we don’t want to do is bring any confusion into the team about the results of the components we’re bringing. So we’re waiting and bringing them when they’re ready.

“We’re just ensuring that, when we bring the parts, they’re the right ones, and they’re going to bring performance to the track.”

Read Next: Red Bull and McLaren US GP upgrades revealed as Mercedes bring six-part W15 package