McLaren predict ‘game-changing’ developments for 2022

McLaren technical director James Key has predicted 'game-changing' innovations when F1's new-look cars roll out for pre-season testing.

New regulations have radically altered car design for the upcoming season, with aerodynamic devices largely removed to reduce the effects of turbulent air.

The first time teams will shake down the cars will be at the first pre-season test at the end of February, with teams relying on CFD simulations to predict their performance.

Addressing the new cars in an end-of-season media briefing, Key said: "I think we’ve still got a lot to learn.

"Everyone has got a lot to learn with the ’22 cars. We've got to correlate them on track, we’ve got to see what everyone has done. There could be some real game-changers out there when we see other people’s cars.

“We’ve got to see how we perform against others et cetera and work out our strengths and weaknesses against our competitors.

"So we’re all in the same boat as teams in that respect and I think that will cause a lot of jumps in development and ideas as we progress at the start of the season."

On whether there will be a convergence of performance in the second year of the new regulations in 2023, Key commented: "I suspect things will become more similar.

"That's because certain trends will probably be identified by teams by then so we will have understood what has worked for us, what didn’t work as well as hoped and we would begin to merge into something.

“Whether that would mean the cars would begin to look similar, it’s too early to say but I think teams will certainly have a better idea of how to approach their ’23 cars than their ’22 cars.”

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