McLaren got off to a strong start to the 2021 season, finishing third at Imola two weeks ago. Lando Norris took the lead early in the battle for midfield leadership this year.
McLaren, Ferrari and AlphaTauri appeared to be the same in pace in the first two races, although McLaren is seven points clear in the early battle for P3 in the championship.
Most teams are currently considering when to fully devote their resources to developing the car in 2022. The revision of the technical regulations makes it a crucial year for the cycle ahead.
But McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said he wouldn’t let the battle with Ferrari and AlphaTauri severely deter the team from their development plan for next year.
“Of course I don’t know what Ferrari is planning, but I think we have a clear plan on our part of what we want to do this year and when we want to switch to next year,” said Seidl.
“Of course it’s a live decision, not just how competitive you are with Ferrari and AlphaTauri at the moment.
“It will also depend on if you actually see a lot more potential in some more runs, like the wind tunnel, as you see some promising directions that could then lead you to say, ‘Look, let’s invest two or three more runs because we could actually get a lot out of this year? ‘
“Or if it goes the other way, you could say, ‘It’s pretty much done, you have to put in a lot more energy and time to take further steps.’ It could lead to it being canceled earlier than planned
“Well, I would say we have a clear plan [and] the flexibility to adapt. But I think it depends more on the potential we see with the instructions.
“Of course we want to do good this year. We want to maintain this positive dynamic. At the same time, the journey we are on is clear. We want to move forward again.”
“To achieve this, we want to take this opportunity of the new regulations to come into effect next year.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
McLaren finished third in the Constructors’ Championship last year, marking the best result of the season since 2012 as it continued its recent upward trend.
The team has already spoken of its ambition to use the new cost cap in Formula 1 to compete with its rivals with higher spending on an equal footing.
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However, Seidl stated that the cost cap had no impact on when the team would shift focus to 2022 as it is already approaching the cost cap.
“From now on everything is limited and we are a team that is at the top. So that has no real impact on the money we spend this year or next,” said Seidl.
“But of course, in distributing the money for this year’s car, next year’s car, you have to make sure that you have the right balance there so that you can actually make a decent development for next year’s car.
“But in terms of the decision itself, it’s more sporty and technical for me [call]. “
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