Spending the permitted $175m under the 2021 budget cap is part of McLaren’s “clear plan” to win again in Formula 1.
The limit, to be imposed as part of the new regulations coming for next season, is aimed at dramatically reducing the financial inequality which is largely responsible for the current two-tier grid with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull well ahead of the pack.
McLaren is one such team that saw competitiveness drop as they couldn’t keep up with the crazy figures being spent by the leading outfits but now they see the perfect opportunity to get back onto a “level playing field” once again.
“There’s a clear commitment that we will run at the budget cap because obviously that’s the only chance to be able again to fight the big ones,” team boss Andreas Seidl said via Autosport.
“You need to be on a level playing field in terms of budget.”
The German, who led Porsche to success is WEC when running their LMP1 program, came on board last year to help guide McLaren back to where they feel they should be, competing for victories and championships in F1.
And he praised the trust that company CEO Zak Brown has placed in him to deliver that goal.
“I’m really happy that I have this freedom to put my vision in place and bring my leadership style in and having the full support from Zak and the shareholders to put in place what I think we need in order to get back to the front in Formula 1,” he said.
“It’s simply important now that, after all the years of struggle, McLaren had to get some stability to the team and simply to have clear leadership and a clear vision of how we want to approach the future.
“Now with all these different milestones in place, like the [2021] regulations, we know what we want to do, we know about the power unit in ’21, we have two great drivers we want to build on.
“We have a clear plan also how we want to organise the team in the future so we have everything we need.
“Now we really can simply focus on ourselves, it’s just down to us now as a team to make it happen. It’s a good situation to be in.”
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There have been warnings, however, that F1 shouldn’t expect McLaren to be fighting at the front of the grid immediately from 2021, largely because the budget cap, which is seen as so crucial, won’t be in effect this year, allowing those top teams to get a head start.
“In the end, there’s a limitation placed on the CFD [computational fluid dynamics] side and on the windtunnel side,” Seidl explained. “There’s only so much you can do, and aero will in the future be the key performance differentiator.
“This is why I’m not too worried about the budget gap not being in place in ’20. [I’m] also not too worried about the quotes I’m reading at the moment that it will be the most expensive year ever for the top three teams.”
