McLaren would welcome GP2 teams in F1

McLaren would welcome the opportunity for GP2 teams to be able to step up to Formula 1 with customer cars, according to its racing director Eric Boullier.

The idea of bigger F1 teams supplying smaller outfits with chassis has been discussed at length this season, but the current grid is split on the idea.

ANALYSIS: What next for customer cars?

In the recent F1 fan survey carried out by AUTOSPORT, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, 62 percent of fans said they were in favour of the customer car model being allowed. Boullier believes such a deal could benefit a team like ART Grand Prix, which is associated with McLaren and Honda, and currently leads the GP2 standings with McLaren junior Stoffel Vandoorne.

"We like the idea that a GP2 team, [such as] ART, could come along and buy or rent two McLarens," Boullier told F1 Racing. "Straight away they would be competitive, without all the investment. Then the show would be better and it would give, say, our two McLaren young drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel, the chance to do something.

"One of the problems today is the cost of being competitive. This is a solution to get more competitive cars on the grid, without prohibitive costs."

The majority of the smaller teams are against the introduction of customer cars, and Manor president and sporting director Graeme Lowdon questioned the effectiveness of adopting the model.

"People say customer cars will reduce costs – well, if that's the case then Manor should be making all of them, as we do it cheaper than anyone else," he said. "Quite clearly that's never going to be accepted.

"Customer cars don't solve the fundamental problem, it just makes it easier for people to come and go."

Letting teams run third cars was also a popular suggestion in the fan survey: 26 percent were in favor of it, with another 39 percent supporting the concept if it was only for young drivers.

Originally on Autosport.com