Seidl not Surprised by Lack of Podium Chances Outside of Top Three Teams in 2022

Andreas Seidl says he was not surprised that the majority of the podium places during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship were split between just three teams, but he believes that the budget cap will help the other teams down the line.

Lando Norris’ third place in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the only time across the twenty-two races of 2022 that a podium place did not go the way of either Oracle Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Ferrari or the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

Seidl, the Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team, says the infrastructure of the leading teams was always going to benefit them in the early stages of the budget cap era of Formula 1, and he believes any chances of taking ‘lucky’ podiums was almost impossible.

“It is not a surprise what we have seen,” Seidl is quoted as saying by GPFans. “Especially when you go into a new era of Formula 1 with completely new technical regulations.

“The teams that have the best infrastructure, that had unlimited money in the past in order to create the best possible teams, and that have the best available tools and methodologies in place, there is even more reason that when you have to do something completely from scratch, they create an even bigger advantage for themselves by using everything that they have in place.

“Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise what we have seen this year, because the time of these lucky punches is pretty much over with the regulations that we have.”

However, Seidl does believe that as the years go by, the gap between those at the front and those chasing will close up, and more teams will be in the fight for the top three positions and potentially race victories.

“At the same time, I am absolutely convinced with having a budget cap in place, with having stability in the regulations, that over time performance will come closer together between all of the teams in Formula 1 and the sport will become better and better,” he said.

“I am absolutely convinced of that.”