Ferrari will give its highly-talked about rotating rear wing its race weekend debut at Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has revealed.
The Scuderia launched the design in testing for the 2026 campaign and it quickly became a vastly debated topic, due to the unique feature of its upper flap rotating 180 degrees.
It made its debut on the penultimate day of Bahrain running and although it was unclear whether the design would feature permanently, it will be used in Shanghai a week after the Melbourne season opener.
When asked if he noticed any advantages or received any learnings from the design, Ferrari driver Hamilton said: “I don’t think there’s any, we did a full day or so on the wing so I think we did.
“But we got all the running needed for it and I’m so grateful for the team because it was actually supposed to be later down the line and they worked really hard to develop it and get it brought here.
“So that for me is just great to see that the team are fighting, the team are pushing and chasing and really working overtime back at the factory to be able to bring upgrades because that’s the name of the game.
“I think last year, I didn’t get to see the team’s full potential in that mode because we were focused on this year’s cars and I don’t know if it has an official name. Someone said Macarena and I have no idea why.”
The advantages that come with the wing are debated as versus the old, very strict DRS regulations, the new active aerodynamic rules are different with much more flexibility.
Ferrari’s main consideration will be deciding which two wing angles offer the most downforce through corners and how it can reduce drag as much as possible.
Though when asked again about the matter, Hamilton was still less obvious about what advantages it might bring: “No, unfortunately it did the same. You can see it in the mirror. So I’m looking forward to seeing what it will do here.”
Ferrari will trial the innovative concept in the sole Shanghai practice session before making a call on whether the wing will be used in further sessions this weekend.
The trial nonetheless comes amid a positive start to the season for Ferrari as it finished third and fourth at Albert Park behind a Mercedes 1-2 – those two squads looking significantly ahead of the rest.
Key to the Mercedes win was the way in which it dominated qualifying and although Ferrari looked threatening at one stage, failing to pit under a virtual safety car cost its chances.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Hamilton also thinks what is giving his former team the edge right now is the way in which it manages battery power under these new-for-2026 rules that are more reliant on electrical energy.
When asked what he thinks will be key to catch up to Mercedes and contend for the 2026 title, he said: “I think it’s really dependent on development, the development rate is pretty steep for everyone at the moment so people are going to be interested to see who brings upgrades over these next races.
“They do have a big, I mean you saw in qualifying it was eight tenths or something like that in the quali lap, and in the race I think it was between four and five tenths when they were in clear air which is a huge gap.
“So it’s really going to be interesting to see the development, we’re going to try and catch them up and I believe we can but I don’t know if it’s going to be a sure thing.”
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