Breaking news
Formula 1
New McLaren F1 wind tunnel plans running one year behind
McLaren Formula 1 technical director James Key says plans for the team’s new wind tunnel are running a year later than planned due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luke Smith
Edited: Aug 13, 2020, 12:35 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
McLaren announced last year that it was planning to upgrade its facilities at its Woking base and construct a new wind tunnel after receiving approval from the company’s board.
McLaren has used Toyota’s wind tunnel at Cologne in recent years, but was eager to get its own facility updated and in place by 2021.
This push was instigated by team principal Andreas Seidl following his arrival from Porsche, who identified an in-house wind tunnel as a key area that would help improve car development and performance.
However, the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to all of its major projects to be put on hold, including construction of the wind tunnel.
Key explained that although plans have been left around one year behind their original forecast, the delay of the 2021 regulations until 2022 means the timing of aiding development for the next car cycle has remained more or less the same.
“These various CapEx [capital expenditure] projects are gradually beginning to crank up again slowly,” Key explained.
“We're coming off the back of quite a significant situation around the world, so that's knocked all of those projects back.
“I think to the original plan, we would have had our tunnel the middle of next year, so we would have missed the ’21 car’s development period, but then would have kicked in for 22, so the second year.
“I guess you could say that would be a similar timing now in that respect.
“But we will miss out on that a little bit of extra technology that you get with a brand new facility. So from an engineering point of view, it’s a little bit of a shame.
“But I think in terms of alignment with regs, it's probably about a year late.”
Read Also:
- No "bad blood" between McLaren and Mercedes over Racing Point
- McLaren weighing up switch to low rake F1 car
- McLaren is "financially healthy" again, insists Brown
McLaren has already announced it will cut around 1,200 jobs from its entire group, with around 70 of those being accounted for in the F1 team.
The company arranged a loan with the National Bank of Bahrain in June in a push for extra financing, but said at the start of the month that the “bad news is behind us”.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Qualifying engine modes set for post-Spanish GP ban
Next article Perez: Vettel Racing Point rumours will eventually go away
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
McLaren
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Latest news
2027 Winter Series calendar: Three series across five circuits
General
Misc General
2027 Winter Series calendar: Three series across five circuits
Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
22 min
Ducati says Aprilia “can do whatever they want” amid team order talks in MotoGP
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
44 min
Why it's now Oliver Bearman versus Rafael Camara for the next Ferrari vacancy
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
MotoGP Australian GP: Marco Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-4-5 in Friday Practice
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe