McLaren have two packages, just in case

Although they are confident the FIA will not find anything untoward about their controversial rear wing, McLaren are taking two packages to Bahrain, just in case.

FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting was scheduled to travel to the team's Woking HQ last week to inspect the controversial design but failed to do so after his flight was delayed. It has since been revealed that Whiting will only be able to check out the wing in Bahrain this week.

McLaren's managing director Jonathan Neale, though, insists they are confident their car will be given the all-clear.

"Charlie's going to continue to confirm that he's happy, which is what we've tried to do all the way through this process," Neale said during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in media call. "It's regrettable that his plane got cancelled while leaving Sao Paulo.

"It would have been nice to take the opportunity with him and some of the other FOTA team members to finish it off in the UK, but we're quite relaxed about it.

"We've spoken to Stefano (Domenicali) and some of the other team principals and colleagues there and of course everyone wants to see clarity. We're doing the same on a number of other teams' developments. There's nothing untowards about it though - we're quite confident the car is legal."

But McLaren are leaving nothing to chance and will take an extra package to Bahrain.

"We're not taking a radically different package, but you just never know what the stewards are going to do on the day," he said. "We get the best advice we can from the FIA in the interests of transparency.

"If the stewards decide on a different course of action though, it's still our duty to go racing. So we have a contingency, but I wouldn't put much effort into it and I'm not expecting it to be used."


McLaren have two packages, just in case | Planet F1 | Formula One News