McLaren boss Zak Brown believes F1’s regulation reset in 2022 will lead to an “awesome era” for the sport with every team becoming a “serious contender”.
To mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Formula 1, the sport’s managers and the FIA have delayed by a year the introduction of Grand Prix racing’s new regulation platform, although teams will see a $145m degressive budget cap initiated from 2021.
Brown believes the latter, coupled with F1’s future rules, will be a game changer for teams and for the sport.
“Ultimately our goal is to catch whoever’s in first place, and that’s been Mercedes for quite some time,” said the McLaren boss whose team currently sits third in the 2020 Constructors’ standings.
“We’re certainly encouraged that we’re now racing Ferrari, because we weren’t last year and haven’t been for quite some time.
“I think in 2022, with this reset, for all of us it gives us a great opportunity.
“That being said, Renault’s coming on strong, Racing Point is quick and just got a four-time world champion.
“While we want to catch the currently two teams in front of us now I think we need to pay a lot of attention and recognise the teams four, five, six and even seven [in the standings] right now are all going to be serious contenders when the budget gap comes in.
“Everyone’s starting on a clean sheet of paper which, I think, then means we’re going to have an awesome era of Formula 1.”
©McLaren
Brown is convinced that F1’s cost cap measures will significantly tighten the field and end the dominant reign of a handful of teams.
“We can use this to close the gap to the teams currently spending more than we do,” said the American. “But there will also be teams behind us who will be able to catch up with us.
“So in the future, we will have a sport in which more than half of the teams compete on a similar budget. That promises more variety.
“Nothing will change with which teams win the World Championship the most. That will make up four or five teams among themselves.
“I hope McLaren will be one of the four or five teams that can win the title. But there will be eight or nine teams that can win a chaotic race with a change of weather or a crash at the start.”
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