McLaren braced for painful restructuring amid cost cap

McLaren has backed the changes made to Formula 1’s Financial Regulations but says the restructure will lead to the “painful task” of reducing headcount.

Formula 1 confirmed on Wednesday that the budget cap, initially set for $175m for 2021, will instead be introduced at $145m, with further $5m reductions across the following two years.

McLaren had been a primary force in wanting the cap reduced and earlier this week confirmed that approximately 1,200 staff, from a total of 4,000, will be made redundant, across its entire Group.

It is expected that around 70 of those personnel will be from the Formula 1 operations.

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“These are very tough times for everyone,” said McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl.

“There have been months of hard work under difficult circumstances but it’s great to see how, under the leadership of the FIA and F1, all teams pulled together to define the right actions to navigate through this crisis and work towards the future for a sustainable sport, that will enable all the teams to take part on a level playing field.

“It has been clear to everyone for some time that a budget cap would be applied and we pushed for a lower limit to support a financially sustainable sport. It is a big challenge ahead of us.

“Adjusting the way we work and right-sizing the team to this new cap over the next months is a massive and painful task and, highlighted by our news earlier this week, will sadly mean losing team members, but our aim is to be the best-sized and most efficient team in the future.

“The cooperation and understanding of our team members have been great and with shutdown coming to an end, it is important the team had clarity on the various regulations, which will now allow us to start work again on our cars and understand the implications of the regulations for the future.”