McLaren planning to run at budget cap level

McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Seidl says McLaren will try to match the top three teams in 2021 by running to the limit of the budget cap.

As part of F1's radical overhaul of the technical, sporting and financial regulations for the '21 campaign, a budget cap of $175million will be put in place in a bid to lessen the stranglehold Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have had in recent years due to their huge budgets.

Speaking to Motorsport.com on the subject of the budget cap, Seidl said: "The target for us is clearly to run at the budget cap.

"There's a clear commitment that we will run at the budget cap because obviously that's the only chance to be able again to fight the big ones; you need to be on a level playing field in terms of budget."

McLaren ended 2019 inside the top four in the constructors' table for the first time since '12, though its haul of 145 points was some 272 behind third-placed Red Bull and 594 behind champions Mercedes.

The incoming budget cap has raised fears that the top three teams could spend even more in '20 to better prepare themselves for the following season, though F1 CEO Chase Carey has previously dismissed the idea of this sort of tactical spending taking place.

Seidl echoed this and says McLaren will not up its spending next year to put itself in a better position for the rules overhaul, despite being one of the teams likely to benefit most from the '21 regulation change.

"You need to be realistic to what is achievable," Seidl said. "Even if someone will give us for next year a hundred million more, you first need to be able to digest that and to put a structure in place that actually can produce more output in this short period of time.

"This is why I'm not too worried about '20, also not too worried about the quotes I'm reading at the moment that it will be the most expensive year ever for the top three teams.

"In the end, there's a limitation placed on the CFD side, on the wind tunnel side, so there's only so much you can do, and aero will also be in the future the key performance differentiator.

"They will have a head start, simply because of where they are right now, because they do a better job they have better methodologies in place, they have better processes in place and so on."