Since his one-two at the Italian Grand Prix in September, McLaren has eased third place overall as Ferrari fought its way back.
Powered by an improved hybrid system on its powerplant, Ferrari has outperformed McLaren in each of the last three races, turning a 17.5 point deficit into a 13.5 point lead after Sunday’s race in Mexico.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr finished fifth and sixth, while McLaren scored just one point thanks to Lando Norris in P10 after Daniel Ricciardo lost the order after a collision with Valtteri Bottas on the first lap.
But Seidl felt the setback wasn’t a reason for McLaren to tip over in the fight against Ferrari, and said difficult days could easily happen the other way around.
“The most important thing is to accept that days like today can happen in racing, they are part of the sport,” said Seidl after the race in Mexico.
“At the same time, they can happen to your competitor. So there is no reason to give up this fight. It’s important to keep going. Fortunately there will be another race next weekend and then we can try to fight back.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
“Of course it is disappointing for us today to get just one point, which is a huge success for the constructors’ championship.
“But the same can happen to our competitors here too. We just have to focus on ourselves and make sure that we constantly score points, which we didn’t manage today. “
The high altitude conditions in Mexico meant that the teams had to use their aerodynamic packages with high downforce.
Seidl added that it was “so difficult to predict” which of the remaining four tracks might fit McLaren better than Ferrari.
“So many factors play a role here: temperatures, choice of tires, downforce level, of course the characteristics of the route,” says Seidl.
“We have seen many times this year that it was difficult to predict and it may turn out differently than everyone expected.”
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