McLaren building brand new windtunnel at Woking base

McLaren have confirmed that they will be starting construction on a brand new windtunnel at their Woking factory as they look to continue rebuilding the team.

The British outfit has its own tunnel capable of running 50 per cent sized models, however such is the benefit of scaling up to the maximum allowed size of 60 per cent under the regulations, it has chosen to use Toyota's facility in Cologne.

But with the team looking to rebuild and move to the front of the field in the coming years, construction of a new wind tunnel has been signed off by McLaren's shareholders, but it won't be online until 2021, according to team boss Andreas Seidl.

"One of the big deficits we have at the moment is clearly not running our own windtunnel at Woking," he said on Saturday.

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"For five of six years now we've developed our car in Toyota's in Cologne, so the decision has been made that we install a new wind tunnel in Woking.

"It's a great message for everyone inside the team because it shows how serious Zak [Brown] and the shareholders are. It's great news for everyone and a big boost for the morale and it fits into the overall positive direction we are taking at the moment. 

"It will be a brand new wind tunnel It will take roughly two years, so still a long time. We will keep developing our car together with our partners in Cologne."

Seidl believes having their own facility will be of great importance for the team in the future.

"We have a great relationship with Toyota and it's a great tunnel that they have, but at the same time looking ahead to the new regulations, aerodynamics will be one of the key performance differentials, so it's important to have this wind tunnel at home under your own control."