F1 News: McLaren finds solution to burned-out ‘hospitality’

(GMM) McLaren has found a temporary ‘hospitality’ solution to get the team through this weekend’s Austrian GP.

Earlier, Dr Helmut Marko revealed that the Woking based team reached out to Red Bull hoping the energy drink company had a spare motorhome that McLaren could use at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

“They asked us,” the Red Bull F1 consultant confirmed to Kleine Zeitung.

McLaren’s grand paddock ‘motorhome’ is out of action at least for the remainder of the current triple-header sequence of grands prix following an electrical fire in Barcelona.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t help them out because we are using the Energy Station and hospitality at the MotoGP at the same time,” said Marko.

“I don’t know what they’re doing now.”

Reporting from the Austrian GP venue early on Thursday, Kleine Zeitung correspondent Matthias Janisch reports that McLaren has found a solution for now.

“A smaller, black motorhome will be the home of McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri this weekend,” he said.

Meanwhile, Marko said he fully supports the FIA and the Red Bull Ring’s joint solution to the farcical ‘track limits’ issue that marred last year’s running of the event.

Thin, temporary gravel strips have been added to the outside of the curbs at the offending turns 9 and 10, with Marko commenting: “It should work and is certainly appropriate in terms of cost-benefit analysis.”

However, he is less enthusiastic about the idea that the strips will be removed for other motorsport categories, especially MotoGP.

“If you look at the track in Barcelona, there is gravel as far as the eye can see and MotoGP races there too,” he said. “So it seems to be working.

“Perhaps the track should do a better job of asserting itself against such demands.”