McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl supports Formula 1’s decision to postpone the new regulations that were due to be introduced for the 2021 season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the first eight F1 races to be postponed, and it is possible further races could be in jeopardy, with nobody knowing how long the current global measures will be in force for.

The disruption means that teams have lost out on prize money that they would have obtained had races gone ahead, and in turn it could have a knock-on effect to the budgets for next year.

With that in mind, F1 bosses have decided to postpone the new regulations until 2022, as the design overhaul will cost teams a huge amount of money, and instead, the current rules will remain in force for another year.

And although McLaren are keen for the new regulations to come into force, they fully support the decision for them to be put back by 12 months, and it will not affect their new engine supply deal with Mercedes.

“From the outset, we have been a leading supporter of the new sporting and technical regulations for 2021.” commented Seidl.

“They present the opportunity to deliver an exciting new era for Formula 1.

“Nevertheless, there is no escaping the severity of the pressures faced by the sport right now.

“In the same way that decision to introduce the new regulations was aimed at improving the long-term health of Formula 1, the decision to postpone them has been made in the same vein.

“We support the postponement and have played an active part in the conversation around doing so. We recognise that it is crucial to protect the financial health of all the teams while ensuring a level playing field when we do go racing.

“Furthermore, this decision does not impact our change to Mercedes power units in 2021, and we will be allowed to make the necessary changes to our car to accommodate this.”

With the lack of racing on the horizon, Formula 1 has brought forward the summer shutdown, and it now covers the period of March and April.

McLaren has confirmed that they will be shutting down their factory on March 25 for three weeks, but in light of the current situation, they have already limited the number of people working at the factory in Woking.

“Prior to shutdown, much of the team are working from home, with only critical staff working in the factory on split shift working schedules.” added McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

“This enables us to be ready to go racing again as soon as we can, while minimising the risk to our team.

“We all want to go racing and we carry that passion with us whatever our working arrangements are.

“The effort doesn’t stop, we just make sure that we are working in a safe manner.”