Seidl: Lockdown will delay McLaren ongoing restructuring

McLaren F1 boss Andreas Seidl says the lockdown that remains in force during the coronavirus crisis will impact the Woking-based ongoing restructuring and infrastructure projects.

McLaren significantly improved its performance and position in the pecking order last year, finishing the 2019 campaign as the top mid-field contender.

But F1's second most successful outfit on the grid behind Ferrari naturally aspires to return to the winner's circle, hence its efforts which started in 2018 to overhaul its management structure and improve its infrastructure.

"First of all, the most important thing at the moment is to go through this crisis and survive it as a team and as Formula 1," Seidl explained in a video conference with the media earlier this week.

"It's a tough situation for everyone, but I'm confident that as soon as we are through this crisis that we simply can continue the positive momentum we had before we all went into the shutdown."

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Like its rivals, McLaren is respecting F1's mandatory three-week break. But lockdown measures in the UK which were extended on Friday by the government into early May will likely keep the team's Woking base in pause mode for the foreseeable future.

The standstill will inevitably impact McLaren's development plans, including the construction of the team's new wind tunnel.

"It's still difficult to know exactly how big the delays will be," Seidler said.

"One thing is for sure, the entire factory apart from the ventilator production is in full shutdown at the moment, so this means also the infrastructure projects are on hold.

"We simply need to see now together with all our companies and suppliers working together on this project how big the delays will be once we get going again."

It is no secret that we as McLaren were pushing a lot to get these new regulations in place for 2021," Seidl added. "But at the same time we fully understand and support why they have been delayed.

"In terms of timing I think it's clear that with the shift of the regulations by one year and with this long shutdown, it will potentially delay our way back up the grid.

"But at the same time, that's the challenge we're in. We have a clear plan in place of what we have to do in the next months and years in order to move up the grid again."

McLaren was also banking on next season's regulation overhaul - which has been delayed to 2022 to allow teams to contend with F1's economic downturn - to help it inch closer to the sport's front-runners. But Seidel fully understands the reasons behind the push back.

"It is no secret that we at McLaren were pushing a lot to get these new regulations in place for 2021," explained the German.

"But at the same time we fully understand and support why they have been delayed.

"In terms of timing I think it's clear that with the shift of the regulations by one year and with this long shutdown, it will potentially delay our way back up the grid.

"But at the same time, that's the challenge we're in. We have a clear plan in place of what we have to do in the next months and years in order to move up the grid again."

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