McLaren insist latest front wing "not a violation" of new copying laws

McLaren has dismissed suggestions it is violating Formula 1's new copying regulations with the design of its latest front wing.

Racing Point fell foul of the rules earlier this season when it was docked 15 constructors' championship points and fined €400,000 after it was found to have copied the rear brake ducts of last year's title-winning Mercedes W10.

McLaren technical director James Key has revealed the new nose concept that was recently introduced on the MCL35 is based on a philosophy implemented by Mercedes and also taken up by Renault.

While there may appear to be similarities to the Racing Point case, Key has explained that there is a dividing line.

"This has been discussed a lot in the sport since we saw the Racing Point situation," said Key. "There have been a lot of clarifications since then.

"It is not a violation in that it is a principle we derived from scratch. I think the efforts that have gone in to try to avoid some of the contentious points we have had this year is more about exact copying, with no original thought going into something.

"So we didn’t actually take our surfaces from anyone else, other than our own internal thinking and understanding of how to generate this."

Offering past examples such as F-ducts, exhaust blown diffusers, and the double diffusers, Key added: "The principles were set by a team that came up with the clever idea.

"It would be crazy not to let others derive those principles themselves when they recognise what a clever idea it is, and try to implement a similar or even better solution to the same innovation.

"So that’s the difference here, you’re doing it from scratch, it’s your own IP, you generate it yourself, maybe you’ve been inspired or have the principles you’ve noticed on a competitor’s car.

"That’s how F1 teams have always operated and how F1 has always been, and that’s the difference with our development."

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