McLaren became not only title challengers but leaders in the 2024 World Constructors' Championship, and rivals immediately spotted some interesting elements on their car.
Since this year's Miami Grand Prix, McLaren has constantly fought for race victories. Although Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes were still able to win some races after that, McLaren recently became a very dominant team, which was highlighted by their taking over Red Bull's lead in the World Constructors' Championship.
After the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, the British team leads the World Championships by 41 points, further increasing their gap after becoming the leaders following the race in Baku.
But it was in Baku that the team's rear wing came under the spotlight. Their rivals immediately spotted some movement on the rear wing of the McLaren car, calling it illegal.
The team subsequently agreed to make changes to its rear wing, but Team Principal Andrea Stella did not focus on that when talking to Sky Sports at the Marina Bay Circuit.
The 53-year-old Italian was happy that their rivals were distracting themselves by looking at McLaren's car instead of focusing on their progress.
"The effect is absolutely zero, I think we saw it today. For us it’s just good news that our competitors get distracted with these kind of things because it means they don’t focus on themselves. For us, it’s just an advantage."
Since becoming the title challenger, McLaren has been busy on all fronts. First, they had to establish who their lead driver was in the fight for the World Drivers' Championship, and then, they had to fend off questions about the legality of their rear wing from rivals.
Still, Stella wasn't bothered by that, showing how in peace he and the team were by their rivals protesting their rear wing.
"We are completely comfortable that this is a little bit of a red herring, that somebody is speaking up."
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