McLaren brake fix an "interim solution" to find "rhythm

Bahrain Grand Prix

McLaren brake fix an "interim solution" to find "rhythm"

McLaren has struggled since the opening test in Barcelona

Sam Hall

Saturday 19 March 2022 10:20 Updated: 11:44

Andreas Seidl has described McLaren's new brake ducts as an "interim solution" to solve the overheating issue that plagued the team's pre-season F1 test in Bahrain.

McLaren made a flying start to testing in Barcelona before suffering brake cooling problems in Bahrain that severely limited the team's running.

New brake ducts have been fitted to the MCL36 for the season-opening race but Seidl explained this is "definitely not the final solution".

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“Obviously, brake ducts are quite complex parts if you look at the entire Formula 1 car, so it was a race against time in order to bring an interim solution to here," said McLaren team principal Seidl.

"It is definitely not the final ideal solution but we did what we could.

“The factory was flat out in the last seven, eight days in order to provide us with the solutions that we have on the cars now which we have to evaluate.

“Hopefully it allows us then to get back into normal running, to get back into our rhythm as well which we lost a bit during the last test and then we will take it from there.

“We still need to quantify how we can run this interim solution so it is too early to judge [the performance cost].”

McLaren "confident" cooling problem is solved

McLaren ended the first day of running at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Lando Norris P11 and Daniel Ricciardo 18th, with the latter restricted to just 12 laps after suffering a water leak.

Despite his comment the cooling fix is only an "interim solution", Seidl is confident the team will not see a repeat of the problem this season.

“The most important thing was to understand as quickly as possible last week where the issue was," added Seidl.

"The issue was identified quite quickly within the team and now it is about correcting it.

“We have an interim solution available for here so we got to the car what was possible in the time that was available and I’m confident, with the steps we have in place now, that the topic is solved.”