F1 in dispute as Red Bull and Ferrari call foul over McLaren and Mercedes front wings

The teams are questioning whether the design of their rivals’ front wings is legal as McLaren continue to gain ground in the constructors’ and drivers’ championships

Red Bull and Max Verstappen have seen their previous dominance of F1 slip away in recent weeks (Getty Images)

Red Bull and Ferrari have claimed that the car design used by rivals McLaren and Mercedes may be giving them an illegal advantage due to the flexibility of the front wings.

Front wings are essential to the aerodynamics of this generation of F1 cars, with McLaren and Mercedes both having introduced a new design within the last few months.

And since then Red Bull has seen its previous dominance of the sport slip away, with McLaren clawing back ground in the race for the both the drivers’ championship – courtesy of Lando Norris – and the constructors’ championship, which they now trail in by just eight points.

In light of recent results, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has gone as far as calling on the FIA to take a look at their opponents’ cars, telling Austrian media that “the front wing of McLaren and Mercedes must be analysed”.

Team principal Christian Horner said that the McLaren front wing is “very different to the rest of the grid” after Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix.

“I think the regulations are very clear, and I think that’s an FIA issue,” added Horner after Charles Leclerc’s win at the Italian GP last week. Both Red Bull and Ferrari are now in discussion with the FIA over the regulations and the legality of the front wing changes.

“Obviously, there are tests that they passed, but then you’d have to look at the wording of the regulations,” said Horner.

“I mean, we got, if you remember back in [20]21, certainly around Baku time, there was a change to the front wing regulation. Even though our wings passed the test, it was exploiting air elasticity.

“So that’s an FIA issue, so we’ll leave it and trust in them to deal with it,” he added.

Horner implied that that his team will likely their front wing if the changes are deemed legal by the FIA, saying: “Well, if it’s acceptable, then you have to join it.”

Red Bull are winless since Max Verstappen beat Norris at the Spanish GP in late June, with McLaren and Mercedes having won five of six races since then. Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship by 62 points over Norris.