McLaren aim to take advantage of new rules with aggressive approach

The first sprint of the year is upon us, returning to Shanghai after five years for the Grand Prix of China, complete with a sprint race. Another new element are the changes to the Parc Fermé regulations for the sprint. Andrea Stella is behind these changes.

Parc Fermé is an enclosed car park where drivers park their cars for technical inspection, with the aim of preventing modifications to the car. Parc Fermé is normally closed after qualifying. In a normal race weekend on the Saturday, in a race weekend with a sprint race last year already on the Friday.

To ensure that teams and drivers are not stuck with this setup for a whole weekend, the sprint weekend has been modified, and the modified rules for Parc Fermé are particularly interesting. After the sprint shootout, the cars are not allowed to be modified, but between the sprint race and qualifying they can be again. So the lessons from the first qualifying and shortened race can be taken into qualifying and Grand Prix.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella supports these new rules. "If anything, they give you a bit more margin to be aggressive," says Stella. "I would say from a setup point of view, try to see if there’s the last millimeter that you can exploit. For instance, in terms of ride heights, just to be a little specific with one example, because you know that you can adjust it after the sprint." With the sprint race in China, however, it is harder to rely on historical data, but Stella remains happy with the regulations.