“A new car offers a brave opportunity,” McLaren vows to come up with a ‘bold concept’ for 2023
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McLaren's MCL36
McLaren is fighting the Alpine F1 team for fourth place in the Constructors Championship this year, but when it comes to the next campaign, Technical Director James Key has suggested that the papaya-colored team is going to come up with a bold approach in order to close the gap to the front running teams.
McLaren in the last two seasons has managed to finish in the top 4 of the Constructors Championship, but this year is facing extremely stiff competition from the Alpine F1 team.
After 13 rounds of the current campaign, the Woking-based team is just 4 points adrift of Alpine and from the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix onward, is going to come out roaring to make sure that they are able to get the better of the French team at the end of the season.
James Key while discussing McLaren’s plans for next year’s livery said, “I think a new car offers a fresh opportunity.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s [the MCL36] a stop-gap. We’re all learning from everything we’re doing on this car, which is relevant to the future.”
“Obviously, a completely new car opens up all of that space again to say, ‘Well, actually having our time again, let’s be a bit braver with this concept and design a car around that,’ for example.”
“Beyond that, for the ‘24 car, we’re going to have our new simulator online and we’ll have our new wind tunnel online.”
“All these big investments, which we know are going to allow us to discover things we don’t even know yet because we just haven’t got the facilities that allow you to do that yet.”
“I think that’s going to be the next step if you like, with the ‘24 car, which will start very early next year, to make the best use of those facilities when they come in line in ’23.”
“That’s when we have the opportunity to really begin to close that gap because you’ve got parity on the technologies you’re using with most other teams setting rather than think several steps behind.”
McLaren has gone backward in terms of development in 2022
The papaya-colored team had one of its best seasons in the sport in 2021 when they were able to amass 275 points in the Constructors Championship and were also able to secure the fourth position. Moreover, they proved to be a constant threat to Ferrari and gave them a good run for their money.
2020 was even better for Lando Norris and Co. as they managed a brilliant P3 finish in the Constructors Championship. However, this year the story has been the complete opposite.
McLaren has gone backward in terms of development and the gap to the top three teams has further increased, if this was not enough of a worry, they are currently engaged in an enticing battle with Alpine, and at the moment, have got only 95 points to show for its efforts. What makes it surprising is the fact that they have scored 75 points less than what they scored by this time last year.
James Key is well aware of the team’s state and has said, “Let’s be honest, we’ve taken a bit of a step back this year compared to where we were towards [the end of the last era].”
“I’m not going to pretend that’s not the case because it is, and it’s not a nice place to be for any of us.”
“The guys in the factory, both on the technical and the production side have been working incredibly hard to allow us, within the budget constraints we’ve got, to push these developments through.”
“They’ve come as packages at the moment because there are still chunks that you’re finding. There’s a lot of work gone into it.”
After looking at James Key’s reaction, it is safe to assume that the McLaren team is extremely disappointed about how 2022 has panned out for them and is trying its level best to snatch the coveted fourth place away from Alpine.
During the first leg of 2022, Alpine and McLaren came face to face on many occasions and considering that there are only nine races left in the season, it is going to be immensely crucial for both teams to put their best foot forwards, otherwise, one of them would have to remain content with swallowing the bitter pill of finishing behind the other.
Also Read: “Luckily we like a challenge,” Max Verstappen gears up for a tricky weekend at the Belgian GP
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)