FIA McLaren inspection confirmed as new rule announced

It has been confirmed that McLaren were subject to an FIA inspection at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before new rules were announced ahead of the second round of the year.

Formula 1 heads to China this weekend for round two of the new season, following a victory for Lando Norris in Melbourne which saw him take an early lead in the drivers' championship standings.

McLaren appeared to have the dominant car in Australia, leading Red Bull's Max Verstappen by over 16 seconds before changing conditions and multiple safety cars levelled the playing field amongst the top teams.

The Dutchman eventually finished under a second behind Norris, and now it has been confirmed that Norris' car was subject to checks following last Sunday's race.

Will FIA Chinese GP rule change impact McLaren?

Norris' McLaren was one of three cars to have its rear wing checked, with the rear wing beam, endplate and tip subject to rigorous inspections by F1's governing body.

The confirmation in an official FIA document comes as the sport's governors have announced strict new rules on rear wing flexibility from the Chinese GP onwards in an attempt to clampdown on the 'mini-DRS' feature which caused much debate among the paddock last season.

Cameras were fitted to certain cars in Melbourne to measure on track how much rear wings were flexing. Having combined the data with results found in static garage measurements, F1's governing body has determined that they have seen enough to conclude a rule change.

The area concerned is known as the slot gap which is the distance between the rear wing flap and the main plane. The FIA previously tightened restrictions before the season began to allow machinery to flex up to 2mm.

In China, however, the rule change will see the rear wing limited to just 0.75mm of deflection when a 75kg load is applied to it in the pits, which includes a tolerance of 0.25mm to account for the short notice.

The 0.25mm leeway will then be abolished for round three of the 2025 campaign in Japan on April 4-6, with the new rule coming into full force to allow just 0.5mm of deflection for Suzuka onwards.

Norris and the three cars inspected after the Australian GP were found to have complied with FIA technical regulations, as had all of the cars that had cameras attached to them during the race, but the new rule change has been implemented ahead of this weekend's action in Shanghai nonetheless.

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