Stella admits new wing-flexing checks will force McLaren change

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has admitted an FIA clampdown on the flexing of wings during the 2025 Formula 1 season will force his squad to change their car but insists there is no "headache" for the reigning constructors' champions.

The sport's governing body confirmed in January that it will introduce new load tests for both front and rear wings during the 2025 season to limit how much the parts are able to flex.

The static deflection tests that monitor rear wings on the cars will be expanded for the season-opener in Australia from March 14-16, before additional front-wing tests are introduced at the ninth round in Spain at the start of June.

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McLaren were widely considered to have successfully exploited the lenience of the rules in regard to wing flexing, as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri guided the team to a first constructors' title since 1998.

Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports News on Thursday as McLaren became the first team to reveal their 2025 challenger, Stella said: "No headache at all.

"We don't have to make many adjustments at all for the start of the season. There will be a small adjustment required from race nine.

"I know it's become a big talking point, but in terms of what makes us busy and what gives us headaches, actually there are completely different topics which have much more to do with gaining those tenths of a second you refer to, that I might have made look simple.

"I don't want to look disrespectful to all the men and women at McLaren who work so hard and competently to actually make a faster car off what was already a very fast car in 2024."

The FIA had initially said after the 2024 season that it was content with the measures it had in place to monitor wings, before a change of mind just weeks before pre-season testing gets under way in Bahrain on February 26.

The delay in introducing the new front-wing tests until the Spanish Grand Prix is understood to be to give teams time to work adjustments into their cars rather than have to rapidly adjust their designs for the start of the season.

The FIA said in January that the changes were designed to "ensure that bodywork flexibility is no longer a point of contention for the 2025 season".

Stella explains 'innovative' MCL39 design

Despite McLaren having ended last season in very strong form, Stella confirmed that the Woking squad have taken an "innovative" approach to designing their new MCL39.

The Italian, who has overseen a remarkable turnaround at McLaren since starting in his role before the 2023 season, suggested the main change from last year's MCL38 is to the "fundamental layout" of the car.

He said: "In terms of improving the car, in addition to downforce and aerodynamic efficiency, in reality that's by far the most important target that you have, which is what we tried to achieve with this new car, which is innovative.

"It's a car in which we tried to raise the bar in many areas, including the fundamental layout, something that definitely we evaluated carefully, because the MCL38 was already a competitive car. We needed to be conscious, considerate as to how much we wanted to innovate, but ultimately actually we went for a relatively challenging approach in terms of how much innovation is in this car.

"This is predominantly to gain aerodynamic efficiency so to allow our colleagues in aerodynamics to have volumes to use for their geometries.

"At the same time, we still wanted to make some improvements in terms of interaction with the tyres and what you can do to improve especially what is your long-run pace.

"I think they fundamentally are the two areas. Obviously, there's some tuning on the suspension as well, in terms of the mechanical grip, but nowadays the suspensions pretty much tend to serve aerodynamics."

'We have not run out of steam'

McLaren's 2024 constructors' title triumph was made even more impressive by the fact the team overcame a slow start to the season before chasing down Red Bull and Ferrari.

Both Stella and Norris spoke on Thursday about the importance of making a stronger start this time around and the Italian says the data from the MCL39's performance has given him confidence they can do so.

He said: "I think the good thing in Formula 1 is that much, not all, of what is important for performance and competitiveness can be referred to some engineering numbers - downforce, drag, to some extent through simulations, also the effect of suspension changes, tyre performance.

"What I can say in terms of entering the 2025 season is that I'm pleased that we could keep the sort of rate of development that we have had over the last two years.

"If you look at the development by far enough that you don't go into the short-term highs and lows, let's say. So the 2025 car, on the paper, should be a decent step forward.

"But if I look from far enough, I think this step forward is actually on a linear trend to some of the other upgrades or developments that we took in 2023 - Austria, Singapore and then in 2024, for instance with Miami and then later on Mexico and Austin.

"I think this 2025 car, at least for what we see in our numbers, should be just along this line, which is good news itself. It means we have not run out of steam."

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