Zak Brown says testing rules reason all of the cars look the same

Sam Cooper 22 Sep 2023 7:00 PM

McLaren’s Zak Brown has argued that teams should be allowed to test more as it would produce a wider range of cars on the F1 grid.

F1 teams are very limited when it comes to testing with each constructor allowed two promotion events and two demonstration events to go along with the F1-organised testing days.

Brown believes it is this limited ability that causes team to think inside the box when it comes to car design, suggesting that the cost cap restricts any experimental thinking

Zak Brown wants ‘more innovation and creativity’ in F1 car design

Almost two seasons into the new era of chassis regulations and the cars are beginning to look awfully similar. Radical designs such as Mercedes’ zeropods have been done away with and there has been a convergence on the Red Bull style who have excelled the most under the new rules.

But McLaren CEO Brown has argued it does not need to be this way, suggesting if teams were allowed to test on track more than they could be more experimental in their designs without risking a cost cap breach.

McLaren are one team who utilise the rules that allow young drivers to test a two-year-old car but Brown suggested that is more for the driver’s benefit than the team’s.

“I’m happy we came up with the regulations where we’re able to test a two-year-old car, at least that gives them some relevance,” Brown told Sky Sports F1. “They don’t learn much about today’s car, but I think that the intent was for it to be more of a driver tool than a team development tool.

“I would like to see some more testing. With the cost cap now, my general view is to give us a little bit more freedom because we’re capped out on what we can spend.

“Maybe if the rules weren’t so prescriptive, you might see some different-looking cars. If you’ve got a cost cap, I think you can then free up some of the rules and let people develop how they want to develop because we’re all capped by how much you can spend.”

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Brown argued that relaxing the rules when it comes to testing would produce more “innovation and creativity” when it comes to car design and generate a grid that looks much different than the current one does.

“If you want to spend more on track testing versus simulation or wind tunnel or you know, ‘here’s what it needs to weigh, engine needs to go in the back, it needs four tyres and then have at it,'” the 51-year-old Angelino said.

“That’s a bit simplistic, but I think that might then drive some more innovation and creativity in what these racing cars look like.”