Tech insight - McLaren rear wing developments

McLaren’s quest for improved performance shows no signs of abating in 2016, with the MP4-31’s rear wing the latest part to get a makeover…

The big technical news for McLaren in Malaysia was the introduction of an upgraded power unit that Fernando Alonso ran in practice. But the Woking team also used this new endplate on their rear wing in both qualifying and race, having previously trialled it on Alonso’s car only in Singapore. The team have adopted the open gills at the top leading edge of the endplate - an idea introduced by Toro Rosso at the launch of their 2016 car, and subsequently adopted by Sauber and Mercedes.