Formula 1 teams including Mercedes and Red Bull have found a creative way to extract additional downforce at Monaco by exploiting the suspension of active aerodynamics for the street circuit weekend.
The removal of straight mode for the Monaco Grand Prix has prompted several teams to replace their rear wing actuators with clusters of small winglets designed to maximise downforce.
Under normal circumstances, the small rectangular box positioned on top of the rear wing houses the actuator used for the car’s active aerodynamic functionality, previously serving as the DRS mechanism.
With straight mode deactivated for this round, that actuator becomes redundant, freeing up the space for aerodynamic devices that can deliver meaningful downforce gains around the tight Monte Carlo streets.
In most racing environments, aerodynamicists must carefully balance the downforce generated by any given component against the drag penalty it introduces, since excessive drag hurts straightline performance significantly.
Monaco’s exceptionally short straights and low cornering speeds effectively eliminate that concern, allowing teams to pursue what might be described as dirty downforce without suffering the usual efficiency penalties.
These winglets also help the rear wing work harder by generating upwash, which expands the lower pressure field at the rear of the car and, when linked to the diffuser, increases suction to pull airflow beneath the car at higher velocity.
Mercedes has taken the most radical approach, fitting a mainplane-mounted pylon housing a trio of cascading winglets with another winglet on top, followed by two further banks of two winglets behind, with the final bank mounted to the upper rear wing flap.
Each of the final winglets in those cascades features a Gurney flap to further increase their aerodynamic potency, making the Mercedes installation the most elaborate solution seen in the Monaco paddock this weekend.
Red Bull has taken a more restrained approach, modifying its standard actuator housing to accommodate two winglets enclosed by endplates rather than the elaborate cascading design seen on the Mercedes.
Audi has fitted two cascading elements sitting on the upper rear wing plane attached to a mainplane-mounted pylon, an approach that mirrors how Cadillac has addressed the same opportunity, with the American team removing the actuator section entirely to accommodate the new device.
Racing Bulls has modified its standard actuator housing to produce a single tab that extends the working chord length of the central rear wing section, also incorporating a Gurney flap at the trailing edge for additional load.
The variety of solutions on display reflects the freedom that teams have been given by the bounding box for the actuator housing, which extends well above the rear wing elements and allows for significant verticality in the design of any replacement devices.
Monaco has always demanded a unique aerodynamic philosophy from engineers, and the 2026 regulation framework around active aero has simply opened up a new avenue for creative thinking at one of the calendar’s most distinctive circuits.