McLaren shelves H-wing for Spanish GP but plans Baku return for drag-cutting concept

McLaren has confirmed it will leave its rotating H-wing rear wing concept in the garage for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit in Madrid, with the system scheduled to reappear at the Baku street circuit at the end of September.

The Woking-based team spent much of the season developing its own interpretation of the rotating rear wing — a concept pioneered by Ferrari during winter testing. The wing rotates 180 degrees between Corner Mode and Straight Mode, reducing drag on the straights. After a delayed development programme, McLaren ran the system in practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix and again at Zandvoort before finally deploying it in competition at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza, where the drag reduction offered the greatest lap time benefit.

Despite the H-wing performing as intended at Monza, McLaren has decided against retrofitting the mechanism onto its higher-downforce wing packages. The team’s production resources were deliberately focused on fast-tracking the concept for Monza, meaning no version of the Zandvoort wing — which features distinctive sculpted endplates — was built to incorporate the rotating actuator. That Zandvoort-spec wing is what McLaren will run in Madrid this weekend.

The high-speed nature of the Baku street circuit, which similarly rewards top speed and aerodynamic efficiency, makes it the logical next venue for the H-wing’s return. Beyond Baku, the team plans to produce a new, higher-downforce wing built from the ground up to integrate the rotating rear wing actuator, rather than adapting existing components.

The H-wing name itself is a nod to the letter H in the Etihad Airways logo on the MCL40’s rear wing, with the straight-mode actuator running along the centreline where that letter sits. It continues a McLaren tradition dating back to the F-duct in 2010, which took its name from the F in the Vodafone branding on the car’s nose.

McLaren arrives in Madrid as one of the frontrunners for victory on the 5.4km Madring circuit, which makes its Formula 1 debut this weekend. Lando Norris heads into the race on the back of consecutive wins at the Hungaroring and Zandvoort, and the team will be hoping its Zandvoort-spec wing provides sufficient downforce for the twistier demands of the new venue.