McLaren believe 2022 regulations filled with "traps"

McLaren technical director James Key has suggested the new regulations for Formula 1 in 2022 come with "traps".

F1 will race to radically new aerodynamic regulations next year as the sport aims to create closer racing through the elimination of a large percentage of the dirty, turbulent air.

Teams have previously been able to recover from missteps in regulation changes but Key explained the incoming regulations will make this no simple task in the coming years.

"You could argue a more restrictive car has less wrong alleys to go down, so the chances of that are maybe less than you'd have with more complex regs right now," said Key.

"Having said that I think there are a lot of subtleties, too, to be exploited and that's going to be the journey in '22.

"You're not going to see double diffusers and that kind of huge innovation with these regs. They're too restrictive for that.

"But there will be other clever ideas and ways of approaching things we will begin to spot as these cars get released.

"There are traps there. It may be your platform isn't as optimum as someone else's once you look at how someone has lined out their car for example.

"That's a job for next year. That's definitely not doable in season."

The cost cap spending restriction provides another restrictive factor to a team's recovery with the way a team plans to use its budget a differentiating aspect across the pit lane.

"As far as the cost cap is concerned, yes, clearly if you're working at the cap then you are going to be watching the numbers very closely," Key added.

"But I suppose it's the shape of your budget which really counts there, how much of that budget is a push into car development and so on. It's probably a bit different from team to team"

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