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McLaren Looking to Take Big Step Forward with Evolutionary 2023 F1 Car Design

McLaren is hoping to take a “big step” forward with its 2023 F1 car design this winter, in order to avoid entering next year’s campaign while down on performance compared to their main rivals. Such has been the case for most of this season.
McLaren F1 Team 7 photos
Photo: McLarenF1 / Twitter
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The British outfit got off to a horrible start this year in Bahrain, before recovering some performance. They’ve also admitted that this “recovery” ultimately cost them important resources (originally intended for other key areas), and so they’ve had to work extra hard in order to keep up with the likes of Alpine.

While next year’s technical regulations are more or less the same as the ones from this season (except for changes to the floor), McLaren understands that they’ll have to make more tweaks than others in order to become even more competitive.

When asked if the current MCL36 concept will be carried over to next year, team principal Andreas Seidl told Motorsport the following: “I think it’s a mix. With the technical regulations staying pretty much the same as well, it’s pretty clear it will not be a total revolution.”

“But, at the same time, acknowledging that the teams in front are running more than a second quicker, it's also clear that we are aiming for big steps in terms of development.”

Meanwhile, the team’s technical director (James Key), also understands how important it is to get the 2023 concept just right from the get-go.

“I think the standards that we've seen within the top three teams show what you've got to be able to achieve.”

“If you start the season with a competitive car, you can adapt your development plans from there and do less than what we have done, whilst being more focused on the areas that you feel will be the most prolific.”

It's also worth noting that, McLaren hasn’t given up on the 2022 season, planning to bring further refinements to this car before the end of the year. Right now, the Woking-based outfit trails Alpine in the Constructor Standings by just 18 points.
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About the author: Sergiu Tudose
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Sergiu got to experience both American and European car "scenes" at an early age (his father drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 supermini in the 80s). After spending over 15 years at local and international auto publications, he's starting to appreciate comfort behind the wheel more than raw power and acceleration.
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