In the round-up: McLaren says preparing its new car for the 2022 F1 season requires more effort than usual due to the drastic change in technical regulations.
In brief
McLaren managing increased workload for 2022 car to finish “as late as possible”
McLaren operations director Piers Thynne says the team is having to work harder than usual to ensure the new MCL36 is ready to run in the first test at the Circuit de Catalunya later this month.“This year, when compared to those previous years, we’re running hotter, with a little over 20% more work in progress across the factory and our supply chain,” said Thynne. “The product is of similar complexity but all of it is new: there are very, very few bits of carryover.”
The team is producing fewer spare parts than usual as it plans to introduce an upgrade at the first race in Bahrain next month. “We are very keen to be as late as possible and as lean on stock as we can be, to ensure there is opportunity to deliver upgrades in sync for race one,” said Thynne. “The layout of the programme is fundamentally different for the ’36 compared to previous cars.
“The programme is difficult, and when you factor in the constraint of the cost cap on top of a significant engineering and manufacturing challenge, that’s when you really have to rely on great teamwork, great collaboration and a total laser focus on achieving targets.”
Ferrari predict F1 sponsorship revenue dip in 2022
Ferrari has reported a 23% year-on-year increase in revenues for the car manufacturer, including its F1 division. However in its guidance for 2022 the team said its expected revenues from F1 reflect “more diversified but lower sponsorship, partially offset by better prior year ranking”.
The team rose from sixth to third in the championship last year. Its long-running sponsorship deal with tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris International was not renewed at the end of last season, though it has announced the return of former sponsor Santander, four years since they parted ways.
Mercedes and Verstappen nominated in Laureus Sport Awards
Max Verstappen has been nominated as one of the sportspeople of the year and Mercedes’ Formula 1 team as one of the teams of the year at the Laureus sports awards. Verstappen was previously nominated for breakthrough of the year, in 2016 and Mercedes has received 8 nominations over the years, winning team of the year in 2021.
W Series looking to younger drivers for Arizona test
As W Series completes its Arizona testing session in the search for new talent, series CEO Catherine Bond-Muir said in a press call that it is looking towards drivers earlier in their career, for its third season.
“The drivers [in Arizona] this week are on average, a lot younger than the drivers that we’ve seen before. So that’s really important because we want to start picking up the younger drivers,” Bond-Muir explained. “We’ve had a driver who just turned 16 this week, for example – if she doesn’t make it through this week, and I have no idea whether she is or not, she’ll be certainly someone that we carry on looking at.”
Bond-Muir said that progress for the drivers had been clear over the course of two testing days. “I’m pleased to say that there was a big improvement in a lot of the times today, which I think is fantastic, it demonstrates that they’re all learning.
“What we’re really looking for is talent,” Bond-Muir continued “The whole point about W Series is we want to find the girls who, ultimately, will be propelled into the higher echelons of motorsport and by definition, will be racing against the men. But we don’t want W Series drivers to go into the other series and to be at the back. We want them to be highly competitive.”
Former F1 driver Chilton to develop McMurtry Spéirling
Max Chilton, who drove for Marussia in F1 in 2013 and 2014 before moving to Indy Lights and IndyCar with Carlin and Ganassi, has been announced as the development driver for the McMurtry Spéirling sports car. Chilton will be tasked with driving the bespoke car, which has a fan-driven downforce system which can change the car’s ground effect aerodynamics on demand.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
📂Downloads
└📁2022
└📁W13
└📁 Work in Progress pic.twitter.com/BxfYIkRTSf— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 2, 2022
It’s good to be back @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/w1hRTLrPAh
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) February 2, 2022
Also in attendance at @SilverstoneUK today and yesterday was 🇺🇸 @UgoUgochukwu2, the @McLarenF1 junior getting up to speed ahead of his debut in 2022 🏁
Here's what he had to say 📽️👇#BritishF4 | #ROKiT pic.twitter.com/QoidP7VihW
— ROKiT British F4 (@BritishF4) February 2, 2022
New racing series, but a familiar number. Inspired by Bruce McLaren's first car number, this is ours in 2022. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/OtNqzMBYwN
— McLarenXE (@McLarenXE) February 2, 2022
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Nicola Marinangeli to race in Euroformula with Van Amersfoort Racing (EuroFormula Open)
"Arriving in the series after three years racing Formula Regional cars, Marinangeli has race-winning experience in the Formula 4 United Arab Emirates championship and has also raced in FRegional equipment in Asia and Europe with a best result of ninth."
Leclerc working to become 'more consistent' as he targets the title in 2022 (Formula 3)
"'The area to improve on will be my consistency because that is key for the Championship,' said Leclerc. 'It’s good to take pole positions and to win races, but the consistency is what pays off at the end of the season. I think that’s what I lacked last year and where I need to improve.'"
Announcing IndyCar IR-18 (Studio 397)
"In order to ensure we can produce an experience as close to reality as possible, these new cars also come complete with two brand new physics features for rFactor 2 – Push to Pass, and Weight Jacker. Both of these features are enabled with the IndyCar IR-18 car."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Comment of the day
After Alfa Romeo revealed it will run a testing livery in Barcelona, Adam brings up the way testing liveries can make the eventual, less creative, reveal somewhat disappointing.
I don’t like testing liveries because usually the testing livery is really nice and actually more interesting to look at than the actual launch one. Like that one in the image is super pretty! A lot more character than the very bland and very corporate mostly-white and red one.
@rocketpanda
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Brawngp!
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd February 2022, 7:45
Nice insight on Mclaren’s progress – I’m sure all teams will survive & be ready.
I share COTD’s view slightly. Testing liveries can occasionally be more creative than regular ones.