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McLaren has announced that it will be officially joining Formula E with its purchase of the Mercedes-EQ team. The British team will be the new owners of the championship-winning outfit and will be looking to gain a competitive advantage in both Formula E and F1.
The team will enter the sport in 2022-2023, furthering its reach in electric motorsport - having already decided to join the Extreme E series this year. Ian James, the current team principal of the Mercedes-EQ team, will remain on board to lead the new team until the end of the year.
The team's CEO Zak Brown said of their new venture:
“McLaren Racing always seeks to compete against the best and on the leading edge of technology, providing our fans, partners and people with new ways to be excited, entertained and inspired. Formula E, like all our racing series, fulfils all those criteria. As with all forms of the sport we participate in, Formula E has racing at the centre but will be strategically, commercially and technically additive to McLaren Racing overall.”
The Formula E team will join the Woking-based team's F1 outfit, along with its IndyCar team under the larger parent company.
It is, however, still not clear who will drive for the British team, with some fans hoping for drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo to make an appearance.
McLaren had a 'reality check' in Miami, as per team principal Andreas Seidl
Andreas Seidl has admitted that the recently concluded 2022 F1 Miami GP was a 'reality check' for the entire team. McLaren looked to be on the rise after a disappointing start to the 2022 season in Bahrain. The Woking-based constructor felt it was over the hump after Lando Norris clinched P3 at the 2022 F1 Imola GP. Neither Norris nor Ricciardo, however, were able to score any points, with the former crashing out in the late stages of the race.
Team principal Seidl shared his thoughts on the Miami GP, saying:
“We didn’t have the performance that we had at the previous two race weekends. It was all a reality check also [in terms of] where we are. This performance was clearly more in line with what we have seen in Bahrain, or also in Jeddah.”
The British team currently sits P4 in the constructors' standings with 46 points from the first five rounds of the season. With most teams planning on bringing upgrades to the 2022 F1 Spanish GP, however, only time will tell if the Papaya team will be able to return to its former competitiveness.
