No more major upgrades for McLaren: 'You really have to watch that'

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl reveals that the 2022 MCL36 will no longer receive 'major upgrades'. Instead, the British team will only come up with 'small, little changes'.

McLaren could not make the big move in 2022 that its 2021 rival could. Ferrari went from battling for third place with McLaren last season to title contention with Red Bull Racing in 2022. McLaren, on the other hand, seems to have taken a step back. After nine Grands Prix in 2022, the team is on 65 points and failed to score three times with both cars. Lando Norris did manage to drive his MCL36 to a podium in Imola after a late mistake by Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's 2022 car is not yet fast enough, but major upgrades are no longer to be expected from the British racing team. Seidl says according to The Race that there is still performance to unlock from the current package and that is the team's focus for now. "And then we need to see which further small little changes to the car will come throughout the course of the season."

McLaren, like every team these days, has to adhere to the budget cap, which could potentially play a role. At the start of 2022, the papaya coloured car suffered from brake problems which meant that extra money had to be spent. There are also stricter rules on aerodynamic testing time. "You really need to be very careful with how you use your windtunnel time," Seidl revealed.