McLaren happy to wing it

Clarification: McLaren's rear wing

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McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale is confident the rear wing on their new MP4-25 car will be declared legal ahead of the new Formula One season.

The team arrive in Bahrain for this weekend's opening race still not knowing whether the wing, which contains a slot that reduces drag and therefore increases straight-line speed, conforms to FIA regulations.

Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner last week asked motorsport's governing body for clarification over the wing and the FIA's technical expert, Charlie Whiting, had been due to inspect the car at the team's headquarters in Woking on Friday.

However, Whiting had to cancel the meeting owing to a flight delay, which means the McLaren will now be scrutineered along with all the other cars ahead of opening practice at Sakhir on Friday.

Neale insists McLaren are relaxed about the affair and said: "We've spoken to (Ferrari team principal) Stefano (Domenicali) and some of the other team principals and of course everyone wants to see clarity.

"We're doing the same on a number of other teams' developments.

"There's nothing untoward about it, though. We're quite confident the car is legal."

Contingency

Even so, Neale added that McLaren are leaving nothing to chance and have a contingency plan ready should the stewards rule against them.

"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."