Ferrari appears to have caught many by surprise with the most visually standout technical innovation of Formula 1’s 2026 pre-season so far - its ‘upside down’ rear wing.
The roughly 225 degrees clockwise rotation of the rear wing elements while in straight mode stole the headlines on Thursday morning in Bahrain.
Even though it only ran briefly with Ferrari soon returning to the track on its previous-spec rear wing, it didn’t escape the attention of the FIA or rival teams.
The Race asked the FIA’s technical director, Nikolas Tombazis, whether it was legal.
He replied: “We have, generally speaking, encouraged solutions that reduce drag.
“That's why the DRS regulations of last year, which were limiting the amount of opening, those have not been maintained this year in order to give more freedom.
“And the Ferrari solution, we believe, is OK.”
So it has FIA approval, but what do rivals make of it?
Ollie Bearman got quite the shock when he saw it open in that unusual way when he was following Lewis Hamilton out on track.
“I was behind Lewis, and I saw it and I was like, f***, what happened? I thought it was broken, but honestly, it's super innovative,” Bearman said.
“It looks pretty slick as well, so if it works on track, then they've done something right, that's for sure.”
Bearman believes other teams have considered it too but have come up against a key obstacle.
“It looks cool but it's heavy as well,” Haas's Bearman said.
“Everyone, I think, has considered it, including ourselves. But, there's always a compromise to be made on those things.”
That’s particularly pertinent given many teams are fighting to get close to the reduced minimum weight limit for 2026.
Teams like Williams, for whom the upside down Ferrari rear wing has come as a surprise.
“In terms of packaging, inside the endplates, there were pros and cons to it overall,” Vowels said.
“It's worth saying, and this is not just Williams but teams up and down the grid, whenever you see something interesting, either it goes into the bracket of 'we've already thought about it, here's the results and why we didn't do it' or it goes into the bracket of 'we did not think of that'.
"And [then] near enough overnight, within 24 hours, I would expect results to, effectively indicate to us whether it's good or bad, so we can modify our direction of travel.
“The rear wing from Ferrari, it's an interesting direction of travel.”
Asked if Williams had thought of it, Vowles replied: “That one hasn't come across our radar. Not sure it's good yet either, but let's find out.”
Indeed, even Ferrari isn’t sure whether it will use the innovative design going forward.
- Gary Anderson's verdict on Ferrari's astonishing upside-down wing
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“I think everybody is doing innovation, sometimes it’s visible, sometimes it’s not, but I’m sure that our competitors and everybody on the grid is doing exactly the same,” Vasseur said.
“It’s true the last two things we brought on track were visible from outside, but it’s not a big difference with the others.
“I don’t know if it will be for Melbourne or the next one."
