Spanish GP Flexi-wing clampdown, a reshuffle in F1? Split opinions at the top!

McLaren, the current leaders in both championships claim to be unfazed by the aformentioned technical directive being introduced for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Dismissing any potential side effects the clampdown on the front wing's flexion levels, McLaren's CEO Zak Brown told De Telegraaf: "It makes no difference to us. We're not at all worried about that rule change.”

According to McLaren boss Andrea Stella, as he's often said, the MCL39's performance does not come from one single area, but it's instead a cumulative effect from the philosophy of the car.

For Mercedes the season that started off so well, has gradually been dwindling from podium finishes to midfield results, with the Monaco Grand Prix being an absolute dismal for the team as neither George Russell nor Andrea Kimi Antonelli could finish the qualifying session and both drivers also finishing outside the points after a race complicated by the strategies enforced by teams like Racing Bulls and Williams.

Regarding the Barcelona Technical Directive, the German team's pincipal and CEO Toto Wolff, to media sources including GPblog,  said of his Ferrari counterpart Frederic Vasseur's assessment: "What we have seen is that Ferrari was probably most conservative on flexi wings. What it's going to do on the pecking order is something we need to look at," before proving his own assessment on the impact the rule change will have.

For the Austrian team, who've had a rather strong season, with a P6 for Max Verstappen in Bahrain marking the lowest result of the Dutchman throughout the season, with already two poles and two wins to his name, and a distinctly clear shot at the title still.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said with regards to the other side of the Red Bull garage, with Liam Lawson suffering a premature demotion and Yuki Tsunoda being unable to even get close, let alone match, Verstappen's efforts in the RB21.

As confirmed by the reigning world champion, Red Bull Racing will not passively receive the changes as the Austrians will continue to gradually introduce their scheduled upgrade packages in Barcelona, following their added bits in Saudi Arabia, Miami, Imola and Monaco.

Christian Horner, the team's principal and CEO, spoke of the changes that are set to be implemented for Spain with various media including GPblog and said: "For sure it's going to have an effect. Now how much it affects your competitors' [performance] versus your own, it's difficult to predict. But for sure it's a significant change. It's not just a tweak. So it will affect all of the cars, it's just to what quantum."

Ferrari is the team that has by far dissapointed the most, since after coming close to snatching the Constructors' title from McLaren at the end of last season, they have been unable to replicate their championship potential this year having altered their F1 car concept significantly.

Speaking to GPblog, among other media sources, team principal Frederic Vasseur gave his take on the upcoming revised Technical Directive's impact with a slight shred of hope.

The British team who started off the 2025 F1 season on the wrong foot with their only points in the first five round of the season coming from races that were heavily affected by the weather i.e., Australia and the sprint race in Miami, have managed to take a step ahead in terms of performance.

At the Imola Grand Prix the team introduced a set of upgrades that gave them a performance edge that moved them closer to the top of the midfield pack, with the race in Italy and the subsequent Monaco Grand Prix showing their increased performance in qualifying and the race.

Results did not come, however, since the correct strategic decisions to the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car in Imola were not taken, and at the Monaco Grand Prix Fernando Alonso's efforts came to nothing when he was forced to retire his AMR25 from contention.

Team principal and CEO Andy Cowell, in conversation with GPblog and other media, was sceptical regarding the impact the aforementioned technical change would have in the pecking order.