Guenther Steiner: "We got pretty lost in 2019"

For many teams, the coronavirus crisis was a major financial collapse. McLaren needed a loan from its shareholders and Williams even sold the whole team. In an interview with Auto, Motor und Sport, Steiner says that an update to the aero package had to wait. "We needed a financial plan so we wouldn't have to close the tent."

New front wing costs millions

"If you build a new front wing, it costs a lot, because you need new tools and then you have to go into the wind tunnel. And you throw away front wings that were still good for racing. If the underside is added you can add another million".

Steiner does say that stopping the updates for the car hasn't just been bad. "It has also made us understand the car better. I see it as a learning phase, instead of trying something new every time. We lost a lot of ground in 2019, costing us millions. The only thing we learned last year was that we were wrong."