Amid ongoing debate among Formula 1’s governing bodies over how best to tackle financial problems, triggered by rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, teams are reluctant to continue using their limited funds on improvements until they know there is no risk of breaking the rules.
McLaren has already admitted that it is on track to exceed the current spending limit of 140 million dollars (133 million euros), and is aware of the risk of continuing to spend more until it is clear what F1 is going to do to solve the problems. problems faced by teams.
That is precisely why team principal Andreas Seidl has revealed that McLaren has stopped working, for now, on major developments to the MCL-36.
“Fortunately, we are not the only ones who have had to apply the handbrake when it comes to new developments, due to the restrictions we have, especially when it comes to the cost limit,” explained Seidl, speaking about the work. improvement of the current car of the team.
“But there are also the restrictions that you currently have, with the use of the wind tunnel being more limited, so you really have to be very careful how you use the time you have in the wind tunnel.
As with many teams on the grid, McLaren believe that while major improvements are on hold, they can still get more pace out of their current car through a better understanding of it, and through minor tweaks.
“The main thing at the moment is to try to get more performance out of the package that we have. Then we have to see what other, let’s say small changes to the car, will come throughout the season,” added Seidl.
Although McLaren’s 2022 campaign got off to a rocky start in Bahrain, as the team paid a heavy price for brake problems they suffered in pre-season testing, it has since made a step forward.
Although it appears not to be one of the contenders for a top three finish in the constructors’ championship this year, with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes clearly ahead, McLaren believe they have the potential to hold on to fourth place.
Seidl thinks this year’s car is much better overall than the one they used in 2021, and that the team has managed to fix some of its main weaknesses, such as poor performance in low-speed corners.
“I think we’ve made a good step forward in terms of some of the weaknesses from last year, for example in slow speed,” he said.
“I certainly think the car is now more suited to all kinds of tracks. But at the same time probably with these cars also being so new, you still see big changes between all the different cars that we’re battling from track to track. clue”.
“One weekend you’re the third or fourth fastest team and the next week all of a sudden you’re the seventh fastest team,” he explained.
“Also, if you look at our side, I think the season so far has been up and down. Tough starts for the reasons you know and really strong weekends in Melbourne and Imola. Then tougher weekends before the big weekend. week of Monaco in terms of performance.
“We have to improve to be more consistently in the upper part of the middle zone.”
