Ever since the 2021 season, every team on the grid has had to worry about the budget cap. So far, most teams have kept themselves within the limit, except Red Bull, which no one will forget anytime soon. However, now the ever-reducing budget cap has become an essential part of the discussion. Now every time a team spends big, questions are raised. This is exactly why McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown addressed the budget cap topic ahead of the British GP. The topic came up because of two reasons, but mainly because of the heroics of Lando Norris in Austria.

The Brit surprised the grid and eventually earned himself a P4 on the Red Bull Ring. This was all because of the massive upgrade the Papaya team introduced in Austria. The team will now install those updates in both cars after snubbing Piastri in Austria. Couple this with McLaren’s recent spending spree for managerial positions and the team is under the budget cap microscope. However, as quoted by Motorsport-Total, Brown justified the cost and the team’s precautions.

“First of all, we reduced our catering bill,” jokes Zak Brown taking a dig at Red Bull. (Translated by Google) On a serious note, however, he explained how McLaren is saving costs. “We had some inefficiencies in our spending,” he says. “We didn’t operate our own wind tunnel, but rented a wind tunnel, which incurs higher costs than just paying the operating costs for your own wind tunnel.”

“So we’ve had to make some tough decisions, but with some new technology going live, it’s also financially more efficient, so we can reallocate some of the inefficient spending to additional staff.”

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The inefficient spending and racing are a thing of the past now for the Papaya team. In fact, thanks to the drivers’ attitude, the team will now go into the weekend stronger.

Despite Lando Norris getting the preference, Oscar Piastri bided his time and will reap the reward at Silverstone

The Australian rookie was not given the preference ahead of Norris for the upgrades at the Austrian GP. However, there was a scenario where he could’ve revolted and jumped at the chance of spending a better weekend. Although the rookie’s mature approach will see him get the upgrades fine-tuned to an extent and plaudits for his patience as well. Zak Brown revealed Piastri’s approach in his interview.

“We initially wanted the upgrade at Silverstone and everyone at the factory did a great job getting a set up a race,” he says. However, there were no substitutes for the early upgrades and any on-track incidents would’ve left them helpless. This is why Piastri’s understanding was necessary.

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“Oscar is a team player and we spoke to him about it early on,” says Brown. “There is no set rule but given Lando’s experience it obviously made sense to give it to the most experienced pilot. Oscar has what Lando has now a week later. All good.”

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There could be a scenario where Piastri might need some time to adjust to new upgrades, which might be a disadvantage. Keeping this in mind, it will be interesting to see how the rookie Australian performs with the new upgrades.