"We've got to unlock fresh areas of development"- McLaren still 'a couple of months' behind other F1 teams in terms of thinking

McLaren technical director James Key admitted that in this new era of F1, it is time for the team to take a fresh approach. The Briton exhorted the need for his team to get innovative with the introduction of modified regulations in the 2022 season to be able to compete with the top teams.

Regarding fresh approaches, Ferrari and Red Bull showed up this season with creative but distinct designs with the sidepods. Meanwhile, Mercedes took a completely different approach by removing them from their cars.

Speaking to GPFans, Key emphasized that McLaren's focus for the next season is to take a fresh approach to challenging teams at the front of the grid. He said:

“We’ve optimized as much as we can now and it’s the next step, if you could -we’ve got a cost cap and a time limit and other things for the next year’s car to consider - is to look at fresh directions, which open up more potential to develop to. We’re not at that point now, on the track we’re on that point now, but in terms of thinking, we’re at that point a couple of months ago.”

Referring to the risk-taking designs that have paid off for the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari this year, he added:

“Really, that’s what we need to do. We’ve got to unlock fresh areas of development and we’ve been looking at that in detail for next year. Obviously, if we look closely at what the competition have done, there are two teams which are showing what’s possible here, caught all the rest of us out.”

McLaren, who have made plenty of progress over the last few seasons, are now fighting Alpine for fourth in the championship standings, the same result they achieved in 2021.

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McLaren still trying to develop the car up to its potential

James Key also claimed that McLaren have made quite some progress with the car since the season opener. While confirming ongoing development, he also mentioned that there is a limit to how much improvement will be possible by the end of the year when it comes to the final results.

Speaking about the development of McLaren and other teams, Key said:

“I think, to be honest, fundamentally it’s development-rate related to a certain extent... well, to a large extent, I should say, in that your car has got a certain level of potential and you develop within that potential to a point. The updates [in Hungary] where the car looks quite different is really the logical next step from Barcelona, and actually has been going on for quite a while, this work.”

“I think you reach a point where you’re saying, ‘well, okay, has the concept of our car reached its pinnacle and now do we need to begin to travel in new directions?’. Mercedes I guess is rattling in the middle of that, but they’ve definitely made some really good progress recently. For sure, they’ve made more progress than we have.”

McLaren currently stand fifth in the constructors' standings with a mere four-point deficit against Alpine in fourth.