McLaren Unveils ‘H-Wing’ at Monza for Low-Drag Advantage

McLaren arrive at Monza riding a wave of form and armed with something new – a revised low-drag package headlined by the intriguingly named ‘H-Wing’, which will make its race weekend debut at the Italian Grand Prix.

The concept is not entirely unfamiliar to the grid. Ferrari’s so-called ‘flip-flop’ rotating rear wing first turned heads in pre-season testing. Red Bull then produced their own interpretation at Round 4 in Miami. McLaren followed by trialling a rotating design during Free Practice 1 in Hungary, quietly gathering data.

Now comes the full rollout.

Why McLaren call it the ‘H-Wing’

In their Italian GP preview, McLaren explained the story behind the name – and it reaches back to one of the team’s more famous innovations.

“The H-Wing’s naming convention pays homage to McLaren’s innovative F-duct, which debuted in 2010 and took its name from the ‘F’ in the branding positioned alongside the system’s inlet on the car,” the team noted.

“In the same spirit, the H-Wing is named after the ‘H’ in Etihad Airways branding displayed on the rear wing as part of the team’s partnership with the airline.”

The parallel is deliberate. Just as the F-duct became a symbol of McLaren’s ingenuity in the last decade, the team clearly hope this new rear-wing solution can become another step in their current resurgence.

Low drag, big stakes

Monza, with its long straights and brutal braking zones, strips a Formula 1 car down to its essentials. You either cut drag and fly, or you sit in the mirrors of those who did.

Neil Houldey, McLaren’s Technical Director of Applied Engineering, laid out the challenge in stark terms ahead of the weekend.

“Monza presents a unique challenge, with its long straights placing a premium on drag reduction, while the heavy braking zones demand stability and the chicanes require good ride performance,” he said.

It’s not just about aero efficiency. Energy management could decide battles all around the lap.

“Energy will also be limited around the lap, so understanding the best way to recharge and deploy it will be an important focus during practice,” Houldey explained. “Managing overtakes will therefore be particularly important, as different approaches to harvesting and deploying energy could create a yo-yo effect, with cars trading an advantage at different points around the lap.”

In other words, timing matters. Get the deployment wrong and you might blast past on one straight only to be a sitting duck on the next.

Fine margins at the front

McLaren know they are operating in a championship phase where a tenth of a second can swing a podium.

“That said, the margins at the front remain extremely tight, so the accuracy of our pre-event simulation and simulator work will be critical in giving us a strong baseline,” Houldey continued. “From there, we need clean practice sessions to refine the car and maximise the car-and-driver combination.”

The team will not just bolt on the H-Wing and hope. The Italian Grand Prix will also see “minor aerodynamic updates” and the use of “previously declared parts that are specific for such a unique track layout,” according to McLaren.

“This weekend, we have brought what we believe is needed to be competitive, including a new low-drag rear wing specification, including the first use of our H-Wing, alongside some small aerodynamic and low-drag options that we will evaluate before deciding the final specification for Qualifying,” Houldey said.

Practice, then, becomes a live experiment: new rear wing, low-drag options, energy deployment strategies – all under the stopwatch and in the slipstream.

More to come from the MCL40

For all the attention on the rear wing, McLaren are adamant that this is only one step in a broader development push.

“Overall, we know there is still more performance to unlock from the MCL40, both through maximising the package we already have and through further upgrades planned for the races ahead,” Houldey concluded.

Monza will show whether the H-Wing is just a clever nod to the past or the next weapon in McLaren’s fight at the front of the field.