McLaren teases next big MCL40 upgrade after Red Bull joins latest trend

Zak Brown has hinted that McLaren could become the latest team to adopt a so-called ‘Macarena’ rotating rear wing after an assessment by the reigning champions found the Ferrari and Red Bull designs to be “beneficial.”

Ferrari raised eyebrows in pre-season testing in February by briefly running a highly innovative rear wing.

McLaren sees advantage in ‘clever’ Ferrari, Red Bull rear wings

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After another short-lived appearance in practice in China, the rear wing was used for an entire race weekend for the first time at the recent Miami Grand Prix.

The Florida weekend also saw Red Bull debut its own ‘Macarena’ rear wing as part of a major upgrade package to the RB22.

Following a challenging start to the new season, Red Bull enjoyed a much-improved weekend in Miami as Max Verstappen qualified on the front row of the grid.

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

McLaren also produced its most convincing performance of the season in Miami after bringing a sizeable upgrade to the MCL40 as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri came home second and third respectively.

PlanetF1.com revealed in February that rival teams had considered developing a rotating active aero rear wing for F1 2026 before opting to divert resources elsewhere due to concerns over potential drawbacks.

These include a brief sail-like effect during the opening and closing process, which also takes longer than a more conventional DRS-style rear wing.

With Ferrari and Red Bull optimising their respective rear wing designs to good effect in Miami, however, Brown has hinted that McLaren could develop its own version.

Asked if McLaren has taken a close look at the rotating rear wings in use elsewhere, Brown told Sky F1: “We have.

“As you can imagine, all the teams look at what each other do.

“It’s clever and we think it could be beneficial, so not surprised to see another team using it.”

With Red Bull and McLaren taking strides forward over recent weeks to rival Mercedes and Ferrari at the front, Brown reckons it won’t be long before the entire field closes up in F1 2026.

On Red Bull’s gains in Miami, he said: “They’ve been quick all weekend, so they’ve got some great development on the car.

“Obviously [there’s] the Ferrari and then the Mercedes, so you have your top four.

“If you look at the lap times now compared to Australia, the whole field is starting to get consolidated.

“So I think in not too short order, we’ll be back to where we were with a very competitive, tight grid.”

McLaren has recovered well from a disappointing start to the season, which saw Norris and Piastri both fail to start the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

The Woking team currently sits third in the constructors’ championship, 16 points behind Ferrari and 86 adrift of the dominant Mercedes team.

Norris is the highest-placed McLaren man in the drivers’ standings after the opening four races, sitting 49 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

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