'Put Six Wheels On A Car': McLaren CEO Would Like To See Regulations Open Up

F1
Friday, 15 December 2023 at 05:00
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown recently shared that he would like to see regulations open up as other restrictive measures prevent teams from overspending.
Formula One is not only a race of the top 20 best drivers in the World; it is also a race of the best engineering teams to see who can produce the fastest car under certain regulations.
F1 teams spend millions and millions of dollars on developing new innovative solutions that can potentially help them make their cars faster in comparison to their rivals.
In general, the more money teams could spend on their development, the faster they were. This is why the biggest teams almost always dominated the sport.
However, we have recently seen a change in regulations that introduces a budget cap on teams' spending and restricts the amount of money they can spend on development each season.
This decision made F1 teams more valuable because they became profitable all of a sudden as they were not allowed to spend all their money on development, but the regulation's purpose was to also bring the field closer together, to see more teams competing for the title.
Asked what regulation change he would like to see instituted into F1, McLaren's CEO Zak Brown responded on Track Limits podcast:
“"Since we have the budget cap, I'd like to see the regulations open up and not be so restrictive because we have a cap."”
Brown believes that other regulations should allow teams to experiment more with their car and be more creative with their designs since the budget cap will still restrict them all.
“"You know, if you wanna go test instead of being in a wind tunnel, go test. If you wanna do more wind tunnel time, do more wind tunnel time."”
Brown's suggestion might also fuel more innovations in F1, which could then be translated into the real life of casual people like we have seen in the past with paddle shifters or hybrid technology used in engines.
The 52-year-old joked F1 teams should be able to build six-wheel cars (a funny reference to Tyrrell P34 - a six-wheel F1 car from the 1976 season) if they can do it within the budget cap. He added:
“"If you wanna put six wheels on a car, put six wheels on a car. I think the cap stops people from over spending. Therefore, if you really wanna see a lot of different cars, open up the regulations."”