McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl isn’t prepared to “sacrifice” 2020 despite a wish to focus on next year sooner due to the rule changes.
The British team was the most-improved outfit in Formula 1 last year, moving up from fighting with Williams at the end of 2018 to finishing fourth in the Constructors’ standings, 54 points ahead of Renault.
And while McLaren sees the looming rule changes as a big opportunity to fast-track their progress towards the front of the grid, maintaining the momentum from last year is also a priority.
“The speed of your 2020 car will determine to some degree when you switch all your resources towards 2021,” Seidl explained via Motorsport Week.
“It’s a juggling act that we have every year, but it’s more extreme this time because of the change in technical regulations for 2021.
“We’re not going to sacrifice 2020; we want to have another good season because it’s important for the development of the team to have continuous improvement.”
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Heading into the upcoming year, however, the German, who joined as part of the ongoing restructuring at Woking last year, was confident of achieving that goal.
“I am very happy with the progress I see in the factory regarding the preparations for the 2020 season,” Seidl stated.
“I think we have a very good understanding of the weaknesses the MCL34 had in 2019 and it is great to see how the entire team is working together very hard on improving.
“I’m optimistic that we can make the next step, which is to further reduce the lap time deficit to the top three teams.”