Formula One news

Shark fin has no priority at McLaren

The McLaren team won't be racing with the shark fin for the next couple of races McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh confirmed. Various other Formula 1 teams decided to race the shark fin at Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix but McLaren decided it wasn't improving the total package of the team's car.

Whitmarsh explained: "We tested the engine cover dorsal fin during the pre-German Grand Prix test at Hockenheim. Its intended aim was to improve the car's sensitivity during yaw, but we found that some of the advantage it brought to that area was being offset elsewhere.

"As you can clearly see, it is a large structure and one that is particularly sensitive to crosswinds. We felt that our car already delivers sufficiently in yaw and that continuing to experiment with the dorsal fin might not bring us the sufficient performance benefit we'd require to make it worthwhile. As such, it is not something we are giving priority to at the moment."

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