McLaren reveal target for 2020

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl believes fourth is the best they can hope for in the constructors’ championship in 2020 before the regulation changes in 2021, but is expecting a difficult battle to finish just behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull.

It was all-change at McLaren before 2019 as Seidl was brought in as team boss, while Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz came in to replace the departing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

Everything gelled fairly quickly as they established themselves as the fourth-best team on the grid.

However, Seidl doesn’t think they can make the step-up to compete with the top three...yet.

“I am expecting a hard fight for fourth place again,” he told Auto Motor und Sport.

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“That is the maximum that is currently possible in Formula 1 given the current budgets.

“And we still see enough weak spots in the team that we have to work on. So we have to show that we are developing in those areas. That is exactly why it is important to have a good 2020 season.

“It is clear to me that this year will be a balancing act in terms of when we flick the switch fully to 2021. Logically, this will happen earlier than usual.”

Major regulation alterations are set to be implemented from 2021 onwards in order to level the playing field in the sport, such as the introduction of a spending cap, with elite teams set to spend big before the new rules are in place. When they are, however, McLaren can compete financially.

“If we look towards the cap, the owners of the team have made clear to us that we can operate on that level. That is a great signal for the team, because we then have the ability to get to the top,” he added.

“But that won’t happen in 2021. After the start of the new regulations, it will take time for the budget cap to take effect. So I don’t expect to be on the podium and having victories until 2023.”

Even though 2021 is a priority, it doesn’t mean McLaren will write off 2020, though.

“We definitely won’t do that,” the German insisted.

“We have to keep up the positive momentum we have, and take a step forward in 2020.”

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