The critical floor zone in F1: how McLaren matched competitors and made a winning difference. McLaren has adapted its 2025 Formula 1 car’s floor design to new FIA regulations.

McLaren undoubtedly possesses the fastest and most competitive car of the 2025 Formula 1 season. Although their car remains dominant over the rest of the field, recent technical directives from the FIA have likely led to significant adjustments, even on the McLaren MCL39. Nevertheless, these modifications have confirmed and preserved McLaren’s incredible performance advantage.

Being present at both the Silverstone and Barcelona circuits allowed us to observe several technical details across the 2025 Formula 1 cars. The key aspect that caught our attention is how the top teams—among which we include Aston Martin due to the influence of renowned aerodynamicist Adrian Newey—are strategically working to divert the “dirty” vortices away from the floor area. This technique maximizes aerodynamic downforce while minimizing disruption to the airflow that inevitably affects the rear tires.

Mercedes Overdoes It, Aston Martin and Red Bull Follow Similar Paths
Let’s start by examining the solutions implemented by Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Red Bull (photos are provided below). We consider the lateral edge area to be the critical, or “neuralgic,” zone of the floor because every team adopts very different technical solutions here, with constant revisions and developments throughout the season. Red Bull’s approach features the first of four edges spaced significantly apart from the other three. Aston Martin also uses four edges, with the two central edges nearly identical and the two outer edges slightly smaller and possibly oriented differently.

Mercedes, however, goes to an extreme by mounting eight exit edges on their floor. The first two edges are very distinctive, followed by relatively standardized geometries, except for the last three edges, which are quite complex. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer clearly needs to control the airflow much more aggressively in this area, although this aggressive approach does not necessarily translate into an advantage and may instead indicate a lack of precise aerodynamic control in this critical floor zone.

Unfortunately, we can only provide one image of Ferrari’s floor taken at Barcelona. On that occasion, the Ferrari SF-25 featured three edges, highlighting just how diverse the solutions are among the leading teams.

McLaren Adapts to the Competition at Silverstone
McLaren, on the other hand, moved from having five exit edges at Barcelona—two relatively large edges followed by three smaller ones arranged in decreasing size—to presenting four much more prominent edges at Silverstone. These edges remain arranged in descending order, but the shapes are far more pronounced compared to the earlier solution.

This change is likely due to recent FIA requests requiring teams to prepare for the use of steel skid blocks instead of titanium ones. Steel skid blocks are subject to significantly greater wear, forcing teams to raise the car’s ride height and consequently rethink the vortices generated in the floor area under analysis.

The Woking-based team has successfully adapted to the evolving competition but still made a clear difference at Silverstone. The British Grand Prix was quite unusual due to mixed weather conditions, yet the McLaren MCL39 demonstrated clear superiority, showing impressive speed both on wet and dry track surfaces during the final stages of the race. This performance also proves the adaptability and technical expertise of the Woking engineers and aerodynamicists in responding effectively to the various FIA regulations introduced throughout the 2025 season.