McLaren wants an expanded F1 test program in 2022

For cost reasons, the teams agreed to hold just a single three-day session in Bahrain in 2021, shared by their two drivers.

This put additional pressure on any teams that suffered mechanical problems during the test and lost the track, and made it difficult for drivers to settle into new teams, including McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Seidl said he expected Ricciardo and other drivers in new teams would have a harder time adapting.

“I’m not going to say it’s a surprise,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We know it’s not easy to jump from one car to another when you only have a day and a half of testing.

“I think there is no point in complaining about the day and a half of testing because it was an agreement between all teams to do just one test this year to save costs. So it doesn’t make sense to go into it too much.

“We all hope that we will have more test days again for next year, especially because we know that we will have completely new cars next year.”

Seidl also hopes that the two tests will be carried out at an interval in which the teams can analyze what they have learned from the first game. This actually reflects what McLaren has been trying to do with the current day of shooting this year.

The Woking outfit, which had the added challenge of switching from Renault to Mercedes, went to extra lengths to get their new car ready early.

It was able to squeeze in two days of Silverstone filming to help Ricciardo settle in, and the team itself to learn about their new aggregate and have enough time to act before the Bahrain test.

“From my point of view, or at least from McLaren’s point of view, it makes sense to run two tests with a good gap in between to be able to digest what we learned from the first test and to be able to react with these brand new cars. “