McLaren is not thinking too far ahead of itself with the Mercedes deal as they don’t think they will be contenders already from 2021 F1 season onward.
McLaren would be the first to tell you that their car’s flaws lie mostly in the engine department, so it’s easy to imagine the team making ridiculous claims about their expected performance, as they did following the Renault deal in 2018.
Both with Honda and Renault, there were some bold claims but it didn’t work out with the Japanese manufacturer, while positives were take with Renault in 2019 at least. For 2021, with Mercedes, McLaren remain ‘realistic’ about their capability.
While many are looking at 2021 as a revival of McLaren but the team is seeing it as another step towards achieving the glory days. “We need to be realistic,” said McLaren’s Andreas Seidl, when asked about their chances with Mercedes.
“The next target [for now] is to make the next step next year, hopefully we can jump in terms of performance or lap time somewhere between where we are now and the top teams. That would be a great step forward for next year.
“From 2021 onward the new regulations are kicking in but we need to be realistic, there’s still a lot of frontloading also possible. The three top teams are not just there because of having more money. They simply do a better job also and they will keep doing a better job It’s important to take the next step as a team, to do a better job.
“And of course it’s important at some point that we all have the same resources. It’s important to have the budget cap from 2021 onwards but I think it will take time before this is washing out and we actually get to hopefully the same level playing field at some point. If we get everything right on our side, if we keep working hard, we can hopefully challenge them at some point.”
With McLaren re-uniting with Mercedes, the most important aspect to see will be if the Woking-based team be allowed to even challenge the factory outfit. Ron Dennis had spoken about the downside of being a customer team, which was one idea behind Honda deal.
He also discussed of building its own engine, something which is just not possible for even McLaren in current times as per Seidl. “It was never a topic really, to put up a F1 power unit nowadays you have to invest a lot of money you need a lot of running budget each year and you would need a long time to catch up with what the others have put in place.
“That was never topic. We’re very happy with the agreement we have now with Mercedes. I think it’s also important just to reiterate it’s one and a half years away. This corporation, our main focus is clearly now to finish this season and do a good 2020 with Renault. We still have a great relationship with Renault.
“Renault is one of the reasons why we have this performance this year, they made a great step over the winter, we have a good relationship there with Cyril and all the guys from Viry. It was just important to make this decision quite early and to announce it. It helps me inside the team to have clarity. Which helps me to make sure as a team we are focused on our main mission, to become a better team and produce a better race car,” he summed up.
When announcing the deal, Zak Brown stressed on Seidl’s push for McLaren to get Mercedes. When asked, Seidl was quite modest about it and stated that his main goal is put McLaren back on top and the German manufacturer can help them do it.
“My task is clearly to be in charge of the F1 team and to put together as quickly as possible all the elements I think are required to be successful in the future,” said Seidl. “This includes organizational things, infrastructure like a wind tunnel, selecting the power unit supplier is an important milestone as well.
“For me, Mercedes being clearly the benchmark in this hybrid era, in terms of powertrain, was one of the main reasons we wanted to make this decision to go for Mercedes in 2021 onwards. Mercedes as a team, with this power unit, is clearly the benchmark in F1 nowadays.
“The best thing is to have the same powertrain as the best team in the paddock at the moment. Then there’s nowhere to hide for us. History has shown how Mercedes is working with their customers in terms of supply. I have absolutely no worries we wouldn’t get the same treatment as their works team.”
Here’s more from Zak Brown and Toto Wolff on their deal
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