McLaren Technical Director James Key announced that the team knows full well that deciding when to shift focus to the car in 2022 will face a no-win scenario.
Next year, Formula 1 will enter a radically new era of design, where cars will be built to entirely new aerodynamic specifications.
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Normally teams with the resources available would put money into developing both cars at the same time, but with a budget cap introduced for the first time this year, the approach is no longer possible.
While a team is unlikely to continue major development work after the summer break, there are differences in the paddock about when teams will retire current cars altogether, with compromises being made either this season or next depending on when have to.
In particular, Haas stopped its development for 2021 in January and Ferrari has since followed next year with a focus of 90 to 95 percent, although Scuderia will bring small improvements to future races.
When asked about the balancing act, Key said, “I think given the circumstances, it is an obvious question to answer how much work we have for the next year and that there is a very narrow field that we are in. But it’s good that there are multiple answers to this I think and there are different ways of doing it.
“Sure, you’re going to compromise something by going one way or another, so I think you have to be really pragmatic.
“What we can see is that a 2022 car is so different. There is so much work to be done to understand what these cars are going to look like that of course there has to be an ongoing project somewhere in the background – it is never a case of one or the other.
“But when it comes to ending one and focusing on the other, that’s something that we really monitor along the way.”
After four races, McLaren has a narrow five-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ competition for third place. With Scuderia now focused on the next year, the value of another major development of the MCL35M is questionable.
However, Key suggested continuing the development, adding, “Our car is not finished yet, there is sure to be a little more work to be done.
“We only did four races in a 23-race season. So it seems terribly early to call a day, but of course you have to change everything at some point and focus on ’22.”
“The deadlines will come quickly. Once you get through the August break, your definition period really begins and you need to finalize your architecture and the direction you want to take certain important parts of the car.
“It’s a matter of months, but in these months I think the balancing act will be the key and we’ll go about it race after race to see how we can move forward with it.”
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