McLaren on building 2022 car: 'Most challenging project ever'

Formula One teams will again face a budget cap in 2022. No more than $142.4 million may be spent (excluding drivers' salaries, among other things). Most of the money is put into the development of the car, especially now that there is a huge change in the regulations.

At Auto, Motor und Sport McLaren gives an insight into the challenge that awaits the team. Production manager Piers Thynne calls the 2022 project probably the most challenging car ever in the company's history. He estimates that the workload is 20 percent higher than last year as a result. "Building the MCL36 under the new rules is a heavy burden, but it may be more the culture change to do some things differently," Thynne says.

The culture change involves the following: keep the production of (new) parts limited, let the individual departments work together better, spend money wisely and be as efficient as possible. McLaren even has an app that keeps track of exactly what each part made costs and how much has been deducted from the budget.

A euro can only be spent once, so McLaren too has to make choices. So money put into development may come up short elsewhere. "We are producing fewer spare parts," explains Thynne. "This gives us more flexibility for upgrades." Fans, by the way, need not fear that McLaren will run out of parts. The team says that sometimes six of the same parts were made, which will now be five.