SportPesa Racing Point F1 technical director Andy Green fears the Silverstone-based outfit will be challenged to perform in 2020 while simultaneously preparing for F1's transformation in 2021.
While regulations remain practically unchanged for 2020, F1's significant 2021 overhaul means that everyone will be conducting double development programs from the outset.
But upgrading current-spec cars while preparing for next years' big changes will inevitably stress financial and engineering resources for the sport's midfield teams.
Green fears that both programs may be impacted, because the team will have no "middle ground", a prospect that worries the Racing Point tech boss whose outfit ambitions to recapture its position as best of the rest following a disappointing campaign in 2019.
"Let's say that for us, there are 20 people from different departments who will be working on 2021," Green explained, quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.
"Twenty out of the total of 40 that we have is already 50 percent of our capacity. We'll be losing that for the 2020 car.
"But 20 people from a group of 100 hurts you much less. The top teams have their big advantage."
Furthermore, thanks to their much bigger budgets, F1's top three - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - will be encouraged to spend profusely on 2021 in their final year of financial freedom, before the sport's budget cap kicks in in twelve months.
"Most of the development work will be done in 2020. Then our hands are tied with the budget cap," added Green who nevertheless dismissed the idea of writing off 2020 altogether to focus entirely on 2021 as other midfield outfits may be tempted to do.
"The resources we'll be spending [on 2020] will be much than I would like. Much less than in a normal year. About a third less," he said.
"From April or May we'll be putting everything into 2021. It's not a comfortable situation.
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"We have the feeling that we'll suffer in both years. In 2020 because we have to think of 2021, and in 2021 because we can't neglect 2020 either.
"There is currently no nice middle ground for us. It's a difficult time for a small team. We know that the big teams put a lot of energy and resources into 2021. In the areas that will then be limited.
"It makes me very nervous."
As Green alludes to, anyone whose car under-performs out of the box in Melbourne can likely expect a difficult season.
