McLaren Unveils ‘H-Wing’ for Monza to Boost Straight-Line Speed
McLaren arrive at Monza with momentum, confidence – and a talking point bolted to the back of the MCL40.
The team have confirmed they will run their much-discussed rotating rear wing at the Italian Grand Prix, complete with a new ‘H-Wing’ element, as they look to squeeze every last kilometre per hour out of one of the fastest circuits on the calendar.
This is McLaren leaning into Formula 1’s arms race in the most Monza way possible: less drag, more speed, no compromise on stability.
A name with history
The ‘H-Wing’ label is no marketing whim. It’s a deliberate nod to one of McLaren’s most notorious innovations.
“The H-Wing’s naming convention pays homage to McLaren’s innovative F-duct, which debuted in 2010 and took its name from the ‘F’ in the branding positioned alongside the system’s inlet on the car,” the team explained in their race preview.
Back then, the F-duct became a symbol of clever thinking in the grey areas of the rulebook. This time, the reference is visual rather than conceptual. “In the same spirit, the H-Wing is named after the ‘H’ in Etihad Airways branding displayed on the rear wing as part of the team’s partnership with the airline.”
Ferrari lit the fuse on this latest rear-wing trend with their so‑called ‘flip-flop’ rotating concept in pre-season testing. Red Bull answered with their own version in Miami. McLaren quietly joined the party with a trial during Free Practice 1 in Hungary.
Now comes the real test: a full Monza weekend, where drag reduction isn’t a luxury – it’s survival.
Built for Monza’s extremes
Neil Houldey, McLaren’s Technical Director of Applied Engineering, laid out the scale of the challenge.
“Monza presents a unique challenge, with its long straights placing a premium on drag reduction, while the heavy braking zones demand stability and the chicanes require good ride performance,” he said.
This is the paradox of Monza. You strip the car down for speed, then throw it into brutal braking zones and aggressive kerbs. Any weakness shows.
Energy management adds another layer. “Energy will also be limited around the lap, so understanding the best way to recharge and deploy it will be an important focus during practice,” Houldey noted.
That’s where strategy meets engineering. Get the harvesting wrong and you become a sitting duck at the end of the straight. Get the deployment wrong and you waste precious battery when it matters least.
“Managing overtakes will therefore be particularly important, as different approaches to harvesting and deploying energy could create a yo-yo effect, with cars trading an advantage at different points around the lap.”
Expect slipstream trains. Expect cars surging forward one moment and fading the next, purely on how they choose to recharge or unleash their hybrid systems.
Fine margins, big decisions
At the front, the gap remains razor-thin. Houldey knows McLaren cannot afford to miss the baseline.
“That said, the margins at the front remain extremely tight, so the accuracy of our pre-event simulation and simulator work will be critical in giving us a strong baseline. From there, we need clean practice sessions to refine the car and maximise the car-and-driver combination.”
No red flags, no reliability hiccups, no wasted laps – that’s the wish list. Every run will feed the decision on how aggressive they dare go with the new package.
“This weekend, we have brought what we believe is needed to be competitive, including a new low-drag rear wing specification, including the first use of our H-Wing, alongside some small aerodynamic and low-drag options that we will evaluate before deciding the final specification for Qualifying.”
So the H-Wing is the headline act, but not the only tweak. McLaren will also roll out “minor aerodynamic updates” and “previously declared parts that are specific for such a unique track layout,” all tailored to Monza’s long straights and stop‑start chicanes.
The final call on which bits stay on the car will come once the data is in and the stopwatch has had its say.
More to come from the MCL40
For all the attention on the rear wing, McLaren insist this is just another step in a longer development path.
“Overall, we know there is still more performance to unlock from the MCL40, both through maximising the package we already have and through further upgrades planned for the races ahead,” Houldey said.
That’s the subtext to Monza. The H-Wing is not a gamble for one weekend; it’s a marker of intent for the rest of the season.
If it delivers in the flat-out theatre of the Italian Grand Prix, it could reshape McLaren’s weapon of choice for the run‑in – and add a new chapter to a team with a long history of turning bold ideas into hard lap time.
