McLaren picked up where it left off in 2020 and, after four races, finished third in the constructors’ championship by a narrow five points over Ferrari.
At the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, McLaren was surpassed by the Italian team for the first time in 2021, with Ferrari’s qualifying performance at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being key.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started and finished fourth, while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris started in seventh and ninth, and could only move up one place each during a race where overtaking came at a high price.
So far, at least one Ferrari has managed to outperform both McLarens on every race weekend, leaving Norris and Ricciardo busy on Sundays.
Team boss Seidl admitted that improving his qualification form is a “clear goal” for the Woking squad, especially before the Monaco Grand Prix, where overtaking is practically impossible.
“If you look at this race weekend we just have to accept that Ferrari was strong in the race, but if you look at the entire season it is clear that we have to try to land higher on Saturdays,” said Seidl.
“Because in the end it makes your life on Sunday so much easier if you do your stints in the open air without pressure, which we have already achieved in some races this year because we had a good start or a good first lap.”
“And it brought us back to where we wanted to be in qualifying on Saturday.
“It’s clear that’s the goal. We want to finish higher on Saturdays, in the end you want to finish on Saturday, where the car’s potential is.”
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Seidl said Ferrari’s strong pace in Barcelona was “not a surprise” but was nonetheless happy with the 12 points McLaren had scored over the season against Maranello.
“If you start seventh and ninth here in Barcelona, finish sixth and eighth and none of the cars in front of you have a problem, you must be happy,” he added.
“It’s important that we were still able to score 12 points on a race weekend when Ferrari was pretty strong. And we only lost six points in the constructors’ championship.”
“It’s good to see that it’s obviously a very close battle, especially with Ferrari, and it’s just important to make sure that we keep improving the car over the next few races to keep this battle for P3 alive.”
“It’s good that we still have that P3 despite having problems compared to them this weekend, but we expect a seasonal battle with them.”
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