Despite their strong performance at the Russian Grand Prix, McLaren remains far behind rivals Red Bull and Mercedes, according to their team boss. Lando Norris seemed to crown a fantastic weekend for the team with his first F1 win, only to finish seventh after rain wreaked havoc towards the end of the race. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth.
Norris, 21, regretted not pitting to switch to intermediate tires and instead tried to get his car home on a slippery track before Lewis Hamilton inevitably overtook him and made his 100.
He eventually pitted, but by then it was too late to save another podium spot and it messed up an excellent weekend for the Brit after qualifying for pole position on Saturday.
McLaren’s performance in Russia came after a one-two at Monza two weeks earlier, but team principal Andreas Seidl remains on the ground and says his team is inferior to rivals Red Bull and Mercedes “in all areas”.
He said, “Despite what happened at the end of the race, we have a team that is most of the time during a race with the strategy, the tires, etc.
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“But of course we still have deficits compared to the teams that are ahead of us in the championship, I would say, in all areas.
“That is why it is important to first analyze what could have been done better after a weekend like Monza or after the pole position in Russia, because there is always something that can be done better.
“The moment you are satisfied with what you have achieved is the beginning of the decline, this is how we tackle it.”
Despite the German’s caution, after a few difficult years, McLaren is undoubtedly making progress and is in the same place after finishing third in the constructors’ championship in 2021 with seven rounds to go.
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In fact, Seidl had praised the progress of his team right after Norris’ remarkable qualifying performance on Saturday.
“When I look back on the last two and a half years, it is clear that we as a racing team made great progress in terms of implementation and operation on the race weekends,” said the 45-year-old.
“We have a large part of them in the team when it comes to staff. We build that together, learn from the mistakes that happen, and we see that in the results.
“I don’t want to say too much, but we have great reliability, which is of course a key to getting all these points from the vehicle side.”
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Seidl and McLaren are now focused on putting in another strong performance at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday October 10th.
Norris is currently fourth in the individual standings, just 12 points behind third-placed Valtteri Bottas, while Ricciardo is eighth.
Hamilton’s win in Russia saw him recapture Max Verstappen’s World Championship lead, but he’s only two points ahead after the Dutchman also benefited from the late adverse weather and finished second.
The post The verdict of the McLaren boss comparing his team with Mercedes and Red Bull | F1 | Sports first appeared on monter-une-startup.
