The 2026 cars were always going to be strange. New rules, active aero, a power unit split nearly 50/50 between combustion and electric, and a grid full of engineers handed a clean sheet for the first time in years. What nobody quite predicted was that the most talked-about device of the season would be a rear wing that flips itself upside down on the straights and earned its nickname from a 1990s line dance.
Ferrari rolled into the Miami International Autodrome this weekend with a revised version of that wing. Red Bull, after a quiet test session at Silverstone during the five-week gap caused by the cancelled Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds, has shown up with one of its own.
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The technical FIA document for Miami reveals that 10 of the 11 Formula 1 teams have brought new parts to Florida, but the only updates anyone in the paddock is genuinely talking about are the two on the back of the SF-26 and the RB22.
How the Macarena Wing Actually Works
The 2026 regulations replaced traditional DRS with a broader active-aero concept that lets teams design rear wings capable of changing shape between cornering and straight-line modes. Most of the grid interpreted that as a hinged flap that opens like a slightly fancier version of what we had before. Ferrari did not.
Ferrari dominated headlines during pre-season testing in Bahrain when it first revealed its unique rear wing design, which rotates at the end of straights to help reduce drag. The upside-down rear wing made its first race weekend appearance at the Chinese Grand Prix, but Ferrari reverted to its more traditional rear wing design after debuting it in first practice.
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The wing earned the Macarena tag because, in motion, the upper element swings through such an extreme arc it looks like the car is doing a dance move on the back straight.
The Ferrari version can rotate up to 270 degrees. Red Bull’s interpretation, debuted in FP1 on Friday, is substantially different.
The Red Bull version seemingly rotates 160 degrees in the opposite direction compared to the Ferrari concept. The aim in terms of lift and further reducing drag is, logically, the same.
Red Bull, when asked, has insisted the design isn’t a copy. The submission to the FIA describes it in deliberately bland terms – language about revised attachments and a tweaked third profile near the centerline – but Laurent Mekies’ team explained that it simply could not bring its own version to the track in time for the first three race weekends, which is why it is being used for the first time in Miami following a successful test at Silverstone.
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The reaction in the paddock has been telling. “That rear wing is opening much more than the Ferrari, and even the Alpine,” one observer said of the Red Bull design, and 2009 world champion Jenson Button added: “It seems a lot faster than Ferrari’s.”
Whether it’s actually quicker or just more visually dramatic is a question for qualifying. Ferrari, meanwhile, hasn’t been still during the five-week break.
Ferrari was testing an updated version of its own Macarena rear wing during a filming day run at Monza last month. The Scuderia appears to have brought an all-new version to Miami.
The team’s own filing describes the focus as maximising drag shedding in straight mode while keeping cornering load. There are also reworked endplates with upwashing volumes to clean up flow around the new wing geometry.
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Everyone Else Brought Something, Except Aston Martin
The rest of the grid filed updates that range from comprehensive overhauls to just a single bracket.
Ferrari has made the most changes of any team with 11 upgrades to the car , covering the front wing endplate, front corner, suspension, floor, diffuser, beam wing, rear suspension and the rear wing assembly. McLaren brought seven updates centered on a completely new floor and a new rear wing of its own, with revised front and rear corner furniture, modified bodywork and a sidepod louvre option to handle Miami’s notorious cooling demands.
Red Bull’s package goes well beyond the Macarena. The submission lists revised front wing elements including the now-permitted diveplane, new front wheel bodywork ducts, a reshaped sidepod inlet, a new engine cover, revised floor bib geometry and updated rear corner work.
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The RB22 is still overweight but, according to insiders, significantly less so than during the first three race weekends of 2026. At the start of this season, the new car from technical director Pierre Wache was around 12kg overweight, after which this upgrade should roughly halve that excess fat.
Mercedes, the team everyone is chasing, brought almost nothing. Just a repositioned exhaust with a new slotted bracket and a slight increase in front drum lip chord. When you’re already winning, you don’t reinvent the car at race four. Williams filed seven items including a new floor, sidepod, and a profiled tailpipe bracket that copies Ferrari’s earlier exhaust-blowing concept. Racing Bulls brought a new rear wing with revised mainplane and flap profiles, plus an optional shorter-chord front flap to widen the balance window for Miami specifically.
Alpine has a complete new rear wing assembly with a reprofiled endplate. Audi grouped its work into two front and rear submissions covering brake ducts, suspension covers, floor edge and diffuser. Haas filed exactly one update: a device on the floor winglet. Cadillac, the newest team on the grid, used Miami to debut its first proper upgrade package: nine items covering front wing endplate, flap profiles, mirror stay, floorboard, floor body, diffuser, rear suspension, rear corner and tailpipe bracket.
Surprisingly for a team in need of a change of fortunes, Aston has not made a single performance update, with the outfit instead focussing on reliability improvements.
Whether any of this closes the gap to Mercedes is the question of the weekend. Mekies has already warned that fans should “not expect miracles” after the very difficult start to the season.
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