McLaren to build new wind tunnel at MTC

McLaren will build a new wind tunnel at its factory in Woking over the next two years after receiving approval from its shareholders.

McLaren has used Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne to develop its Formula 1 cars for the last decade despite having a functioning wind tunnel at the McLaren Technology Centre, but will now construct a new in-house facility. The news was confirmed by F1 team principal Andreas Seidl on Saturday at Paul Ricard.

"One of the biggest tasks I get at the moment from Zak [Brown, McLaren Racing CEO] and the shareholders, Sheikh Mohammed and Mansour, is to clearly point out where I see the deficits or weaknesses in infrastructure, structure and so on, at Woking and here at the track," Seidl said.

"One of the big deficits we have at the moment is clearly not running our own wind tunnel in Woking. For nearly 10 years, we’ve been developing our car remotely at Toyota in Cologne.

"So I’m very happy that recently this decision has been made that we install a new wind tunnel and get a new wind tunnel in Woking, which is obviously a great message for everyone inside the team because it also shows how serious Zak and the shareholders are regarding our way back to the front.

"It's great news for everyone inside the team, a big boost for the morale, and simply fits the overall positive direction that everyone is taking at the moment inside the team."

Seidl confirmed the wind tunnel would take "roughly two years" to complete, during which period McLaren would continue to work with Toyota at Cologne, and said that it would also crossover into the company's automotive interests and any potential parallel racing programmes in the future, as well as being available to customers to use.

"I think it’s important to mention that the investment we’re doing in the wind tunnel was not just for our Formula 1 programme," Seidl said.

"I think we can share the resources of the wind tunnel with automotive. We can share with potential other future motorsport projects at McLaren. Zak is working on that. At the same time, I think it’s also possible to rent it out to customers.

"That is the idea and why we took the decision to make this investment.