McLaren has a “clear plan” for when the F1 car switch should happen in 2022

McLaren got off to a strong start to the 2021 season, finishing third at Imola two weeks ago, with Lando Norris taking the lead early in the battle for midfield leadership this year.

McLaren, Ferrari and AlphaTauri appeared to be tied in terms of 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 2022 car, as the revision of the technical regulation makes it a crucial year for the coming cycle.

But McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl said that the fight with Ferrari and AlphaTauri will not dissuade him from his development plan for the next year.

“Of course I don’t know what Ferrari is planning, but I think we have a clear plan from our side of what we want to do this year and when we want to change next year,” said Seidl.

“Of course it’s a kind of live decision, not just depending on how competitive you are at the moment compared to Ferrari and AlphaTauri.

“It also depends on whether you actually see a lot more potential in a few more runs, for example in the wind tunnel, because you see some promising directions that could lead to people saying, ‘Look, let’s two or three invest 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 as good as done, you have to invest a lot more energy and time to take further steps,’ which could result in you getting it even earlier than planned breaks off

“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 in the directions.

“Of course we want to do good this year. We want to maintain this positive momentum. At the same time, the way is clear.

“We want to use the opportunity for the new regulations to come into force next year.”

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McLaren finished third in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, marking its best result of the season since 2012 while continuing its recent upward trend.

The team has previously spoken of its ambition to use the new cost cap in Formula 1 to compete with its more spending rivals on a more balanced field.

However, Seidl stated that the cost cap had no effect on when the team would shift focus to 2022 as it is already running at the cost cap.

“From now on everything is capped and we are a team that is running at the limit, so it has no real impact on the money we spend this year or next,” said Seidl.

“But of course when distributing the money for this year’s car, next year, you have to make sure that you have the right balance there so that you can actually make a decent development for the next year.

“But in terms of the decision itself, it’s more sporty and technical for me [call]. “