McLaren’s engineering director, Paddy Lowe, has admitted his outfit is confused by the front-wings on the Red Bull and Ferrari.
A row almost erupted during the German GP after photo’s emerged showing the wings of McLaren’s nearest title rivals flexing under force – something which is banned under the regulations.
However, the wings were declared legal after the race by the FIA. That decision now means it’s likely to lead to several outfits developing their own, that is, once they’ve figured out how the Italian and Milton Keynes based squads are doing it.
“There’s a difference of a reasonably large degree that we’ve got to explain by relatively subtle effects such as fuel weight, tyre pressure or low-speed set-up,” said Lowe in a McLaren phone-in. “These things affect the car to a relatively small degree – much smaller than the difference we’ve seen in the pictures.
“So there is a phenomenon that we’re seeing, we just don’t understand it.
“We’re working very hard at the moment to try and understand it and to see if it’s got performance and whether we can deliver that as well.”
