Red Bull’s “Macarena” Rear Wing Sparks Ferrari Copy Claims: Laurent Mekies Says It’s Not

Ferrari shows up to pre-season in Bahrain with a rotating rear wing that flips itself almost upside-down on the straights, the paddock christens it the Macarena, and a few months later Red Bull rolls into Miami with something that looks suspiciously similar bolted to the back of the RB22. Anyone watching would assume Milton Keynes spent the five-week April break on a photocopier.

Laurent Mekies would like a word about that. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 in Miami, the Red Bull team principal pushed back on the copycat talk.

“As much as you will not believe me anyway, but I have to say it in fairness to the guys, the guys came up with that concept far before we hit the track and we saw what everybody else had been doing,” he said.

“But, as we said, we had bigger issues to solve before to be able to bring that rear wing to the track. So, it’s a good indication of how hard everyone is pushing.”

According to reports, Red Bull had already been working on a comparable solution for months, with initial designs submitted to the FIA as early as last summer.

The team had submitted the first ideas to the FIA last year – just after Ferrari.

How Red Bull’s Wing Actually Differs From Ferrari’s

The two designs share an objective and almost nothing else.

Red Bull has kept its central vertical actuator as the main rotation mechanism, modifying only the attachment points between the flap and endplates, while Ferrari’s SF-26 uses twin actuators built into the endplates on either side of the wing.

It is also more aggressive than Ferrari’s. The rear wing opens much more than the Ferrari.

Sky’s Ted Kravitz, watching it deploy in Miami’s first practice session, said the following:

“Red Bull have ‘outmacarenad’ the Ferrari rear wing. The size of that actuator to make that rear wing flip up, it opens up a lot more than the Ferrari, I’m thoroughly thrilled by it.