Lewis Hamilton says he is excited to debut Ferrari’s innovative ‘upside down’ rear wing at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari grabbed attention in the F1 paddock during pre-season testing in Bahrain when the unique rear wing – dubbed the ‘Macarena’ – broke cover on the SF-26.
Hamilton only ran it on the penultimate day of the final test in Bahrain and Ferrari did not use it at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as they finished third and fourth.
But Ferrari has brought its radical rear wing to China, where it will be used for the first time during a grand prix race weekend.
“We did a full day or so on the wing, so I think we got what we needed,” the seven-time world champion told media including Crash.net in Shanghai.
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“I’m so grateful for the team, because it was actually supposed to be later down the line and they worked really hard to develop it and get it brought here.
“That for me is just great to see that the team are fighting and the team are pushing and really working overtime back at the factory to be able to bring upgrades, because that’s the name of the game.
“Last year I didn’t get to see the team’s full potential in that mode, because we were focusing on this year’s car.”
On the name of Ferrari’s rear wing, Hamilton added: “I don’t know if it has an official name… Someone said Macarena. I have know idea why… It’s the flip-flop wing.”
Development war key to catching Mercedes 
Hamilton is much happier with Ferrari’s new F1 car
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Mercedes backed up its pre-season favourite tag by claiming a dominant one-two in Melbourne, with Charles Leclerc finishing over 15 seconds behind victor George Russell.
While acknowledging Mercedes is the benchmark, Hamilton expressed confidence at the season-opener that catching the Silver Arrows would not be “impossible”.
Ferrari has started F1’s new era as the second-fastest team and Hamilton has believes the competitive order will ultimately be determined by the development war.
“I think it’s really dependent on development. The development rate is very steep for everyone at the moment. So it’s going to be interesting to see who brings upgrades over these next races,” Hamilton explained.
“You saw in qualifying it was eight tenths. In the race I think it was between four and five tenths when they are in clear air, which is a huge gap.
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“It’s really going to be interesting to see the development. We’re going to try and catch them up and I believe we can, but it’s not going to be short thing.”
On Mercedes’ advantage, Hamilton added: “It seems mostly on straights so I think it will be everywhere on the straights.
“It seemed more so when they opened up the SM [Straight Mode], that’s when they take a huge step. So whatever is going on in that phase is an area we need to understand.
“They seem to have a little bit more deployment, so less de-rating at the end of straights than some of us. So we’ve just got to work on trying to eke out more.”
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