McLaren Formula 1 boss Andreas Seidl thinks it is “not unrealistic” for Lando Norris to aim for third place in the drivers’ championship after his strong start to the season.
So far this year, Norris has scored points in every single race and only failed to make it into the top five once, including podium finishes in Imola, Monaco and at the Red Bull Ring.
Fourth place at the British Grand Prix brought Norris third in the overall standings ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. He is five points ahead of the Mexican and nine points ahead of Mercedes-Valtteri Bottas in fifth.
McLaren F1 team boss Seidl was realistic about Norris’ chances of finishing the year in third, given the strong Red Bull and Mercedes cars.
But he felt it was a good goal for Norris to repeat his strong first half in the remaining races.
“It’s hard to say whether it’s a realistic goal, because the Red Bull car and the Mercedes car are really better cars,” said Seidl.
“Valtteri and Checo have shown some great races this year and from the past as well. It’s because of Lando’s strong performances along with the team and the competitive car we have this year and we have it after 10th Race managed to be P3.
“So it’s not unrealistic to stay there if he can do it again this half of the season.
“But we also have to be honest, something has to go wrong sometimes on the Red Bull or Mercedes side because we are not yet in a position to beat them based on our performance alone.
“This is the reality we are in and we cannot forget it.”
Norris’ result at Silverstone resulted in him breaking the McLaren team record for most consecutive points scoring and marking his 15th straight race in the top 10, dwarfing Fernando Alonso’s 2007 benchmark.
The British youngster has spearheaded McLaren’s efforts in the battle for third place in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari this year. McLaren is currently 15 points ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Seidl admitted that McLaren had much higher goals than P3 in the championship, but accepted that in their current form it is at most possible to harass the two leading teams from time to time.
“Of course we wake up in the morning because we want to win races on Sunday,” said Seidl.
“This is currently not possible due to our own performance. So we will try to drive better races in terms of strategy or vehicle performance or to stay out of trouble more than the others, or with luck from time to time.”
“These are combined to bring us back to where we are now thanks to the great performance of the drivers and the team here on the track and at home.
“We’ll try to do that until the end of the season to give our competitors a difficult time every time we reach a different track.”
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