I know that we still have quite some races to go this season, and surely morale is not too good after this weekend. But I wanted to mention that this tight championship fight between Red Bull and Mercedes could very well play into our hands. Their fight this year shows quitte some similarities to our 2008 fight with Ferrari, doesn't it? Both teams kept bringing new parts till late in the season, and when in 2009 the new regulations came, both McLaren and Ferrari started the 2009 season on the back foot. We were seconds off the pace, because we had used all our resources to win the 2008 championship. Whitmarsh said the first time the 2009 car was brought into the wind tunnel was in October, while Brawn, Red Bull, Toyota, BMW had had much more time to design their cars early onward.
Today, the use of wind tunnel, CFD and personnel is much more restricted than it was then. So the tradeoff should now be even bigger than before. I feel like McLaren is in a great position to start the new era of F1 on a high. This accounts to Ferrari and Alpine as well. I wouldn't be surprised if we will in fact be fighting either or both of those teams for the title next year.
Toto and Horner said in May they wouldn't be bringing any more parts for this years' car, but both of them brought updates anyway. And Hamilton and Verstappen were pushing their teams yesterday to keep developing the cars even more. So it is not likely that their focus will be turned towards the 2022 season anytime soon. Surely, they are working on their 2022 cars on the side, but they still have to divide their resources and their focus is not on 2022 yet. Our focus should be next year, though. Regardless of whether we lose third in the constructors or not. Our short-term goals must not stand in the way of our longterm goals. Taking an advantage early on with the new regulations, will benefit us for years to come. We have seen what it did to Red Bull in 2009-2013 and Mercedes in 2014-2021. I expect Alpine and especially Ferrari to go strong next year for the same reasons, but I am hoping we will be up there to go up against them.