Zak Brown Hints McLaren Could Join the 'Macarena' Wing Arms Race

McLaren may be preparing to join Formula 1's latest aerodynamic arms race after Zak Brown dropped a strong hint that the Woking squad is seriously evaluating its own version of the now-infamous “Macarena” rotating rear wing.

Why it matters:

The rotating rear wing, first trialed by Ferrari and rapidly adopted by Red Bull, is proving to be a significant performance differentiator. If McLaren successfully integrates it, the competitive balance at the front could tighten even further, intensifying an already fierce battle among the top four teams.

The details:

• Ferrari briefly tested the concept in pre-season and gave it a more complete outing in Miami.
• Red Bull arrived in Florida with its own interpretation as part of a major RB22 upgrade package.
• The result: a clear performance leap, with Max Verstappen securing a front-row qualifying slot and McLaren scoring a double podium – its strongest weekend of the season.
• Brown openly admitted to Sky F1: “We have. As you can imagine, all the teams look at what each other do. It’s clever and we think it could be beneficial.”
• This has sparked speculation that McLaren engineers are already studying how to integrate a similar concept onto the MCL40.

What's next:

The field is consolidating rapidly. Brown noted that lap times are tightening compared to the season opener in Australia, predicting “in not too short order, we’ll be back to where we were with a very competitive, tight grid.” If McLaren unleashes its own “Macarena” wing in the coming races, the aerodynamic chess match at the front could become even more fascinating.