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McLaren upgrading pit equipment for 2020 despite 2021 standardised parts

McLaren upgrading pit equipment for 2020 despite 2021 standardised parts

18-12-2019 19:34
4

Bevan Youl

McLaren team principal Andrea Seidl has said that they will be upgrading their pit equipment for 2020, despite 2021 introducing standardised parts, to prevent point losses that occurred throughout 2019 errors.

In the end McLaren were the fifth-fastest pit crew across the pits but Seidl has highlighted it as an area to improve after mistakes in Italy and Mexico.
 
Those mistakes cost Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris from points positions, prompting the introduction of better equipment for 2020.
 
“Coming out of this season obviously we know the areas we have to work on as a team, on pit stops and reliability, pit stop equipment,” said Seidl as quoted by MotorsportWeek.
 
“This is a weak area, especially the hardware we are using on the pit stop side, we have a clear plan in place of how we want to improve the situation, how we want to get to a level where the top teams are. We now just need to implement it.
 
“I think the investment we have to do is still reasonable for next year, but considering the number of points we lost this year with pit stops it’s a good investment to make.”
 
Regardless of updating their equipment for 2020 Seidl backs the standardised parts being used from 2021 to bring fairness across the pit lane.
 
“In the end with standardised equipment it will still be down to the human performance of the team then, which is good, which we like, as we like the pit stops to be part of the competition in this sport,” he added.
 
“At the same time from our point of view it makes sense to standardise the equipment because in the medium- and long-term it’ll definitely save a lot of money.”