McLaren boss Zak Brown says Formula One's plans to implement a cap on spending in future gives him optimism about a return to form for his beleaguered team.
F1 bosses hope to introduce a cap of around $150 million per year from 2021 onwards in the hope of allowing independent outfits a better chance of competing with the grid's biggest spenders. Despite having a healthy budget of its own, McLaren has struggled to compete in recent seasons and this month reshuffled its leadership structure in a bid to fix its poor 2018 form.
"We welcome the cost cap," Brown said. "We had a very productive meeting with Formula One. I do think the current direction of travel of Formula One, if not changed, is a very difficult environment for independent racing teams. Now what you have is Mercedes and Ferrari, who have two other team affiliations.
"So while it's very impressive what Haas has been able to do with their level of resources and human capital, I also don't think it's a coincidence that Ferrari is as competitive as they are. I think that relationship has gone both ways in terms of benefitting each other.
"So if the sport goes down the path of unlimited budgets and partnering up, that's what you need to do to be competitive. Fortunately, Liberty is going to be changing that direction in due course which gives us optimism for our future."
The uncertainty over the details of the cap has made some teams cautious about recruitment, with the likes of Renault worried about the prospect of hiring too many people now before being forced to cut back due to any future restriction. Brown says his current focus is on making the existing McLaren workforce as productive as possible.
"You look at Mercedes and Ferrari, and they have 200, 300 more people than we do. Sitting here right now, I think we need to work better to work faster. I don't think we need to take people out of the system.
"I think what we are not doing is working at maximum capacity relative to the amount of human capital and resources that we have at our disposal."