McLaren about gap to top teams: "Build new wind tunnel and simulator shut down"

20 April 2020 at 18:30

GPblog.com

McLaren was hoping to compete in Formula 1 with the top teams from 2021, but that is not going to happen now that the new regulations have been postponed by a year. Nevertheless, the British race stable supported the measures to reduce the financial costs for all teams in the royal class of motor racing.

Besides the fact that the 2021-car will be almost identical to the car for next season and therefore to McLaren's disadvantage, several projects have come to a standstill. At Motorsport-Total.com Andres Seidl says that also the new wind tunnel and new simulator are not being further developed at the moment.

For McLaren this means that the last step towards Red Bull Racing, Mercedes and Ferrari will not be closed for the next year and a half. "But apart from this crisis, we have a clear plan that we have to implement in order to become a better team in the future," said the team boss of the Woking-based formation. "This plan hasn't changed and we'll continue to work on it as soon as it's up and running again".

McLaren focuses on himself

One of the discussions now being held by the team bosses in Formula 1 was the budget ceiling. The smaller teams want to reduce the maximum amount of $175 million per season even further, so that they can be more competitive and the gap towards the top teams is reduced. However, McLaren also puts his hand in their own bosom. "They're just doing a better job. That's what we need to focus on as McLaren. We have to finish all the points on our to-do list one by one", concludes the German.