"The ambition is not to have a second team" - McLaren expresses concerns about F1's A-teams 'benefitting' from their B-teams

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl thinks that relationships between ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams should come with certain limitations, emphasizing that he has no "ambition" to have a second team.

As reported by PlanetF1, Seidl said it could be “worrying” for the teams on the grid if potential benefits may be gained by the senior team in partnership with a 'B' squad, like in the case of Red Bull and AlphaTauri, or Ferrari and Haas. He said:

“It has two issues. It allows ‘B’ teams with, let’s say, less effort, putting less effort in, to overperform. But even more worrying is that the ‘A’ team is benefiting from it. And that is obviously the worrying thing, with the ambition we are having as a team. I still hope we find solutions here because clearly the target we are having, the ambition is not to have a second team, for example. I hope F1 never ends up in a position that you need to have a second team in order to fight at the front. It’s just a matter of principle where F1, the FIA, the teams, need to decide what F1 should be in the future. And again, our position hasn’t changed, and has nothing to do with current sporting performance of teams.”

While making it clear that he is not particularly making comments on existing teams and their ways of operating, the German admitted that he simply hopes that F1 continues to be a "championship of constructors". He went on to add, saying:

“Again, we just want to make that clear. Haas deserve all the results they produce at the moment because there are regulations in place and if they fulfill the regulations, there’s nothing to complain about, which we also don’t do. It’s about principle, and what should F1 be in the future. Again, we think F1 should be a championship of constructors. This means everything that is car performance-related, all the IP (intellectual property) that is relevant to car performance, needs to be done by the team – by the specific teams.”

Haas has experienced significant improvement this season and seems to be on track to compete as a strong midfield car over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the only association McLaren has with another team on the grid is Mercedes, who supply the Woking-based team with the power unit.

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"We remain realistic" - McLaren happy with Imola results but still cautious with their performance

Andreas Seidl claimed that McLaren's results at Imola are proof of the improvements made by the team. The German, however, remained realistic about the development that will be needed for the team to compete at the top of the midfield.

As reported by The Checkered Flag, he said:

“The performance we saw this weekend on a different track and in a variety of conditions confirms the potential of the MCL36 that we have been unlocking race by race. That said, we remain realistic about the work we have to do to close the gap to the front of the field. Also our pit-crew again delivered good pitstops.”

After a terrible start to the season at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix for McLaren, the team saw a big step up in results with a glorious podium finish at the Imola Grand Prix a week ago.