McLaren F1 Team‘s Team Principal Andreas Seidl was happy with the performance from the team after the team recorded a double points finish in Spielberg.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. finished in eighth place, while his team-mate, the 18-year-old Briton Lando Norris, finished in sixth.
Seidl said that the drivers’ points finishes helped them establish their fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Congratulations to the entire team here at the track and back home. It’s a great result for McLaren, scoring important points to establish fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Today sixth and eighth were well-earned, confirming us for the second time in a row as the fourth fastest team. Great work from both drivers, great pit-stops, and great strategic decisions.” he said.
“Lando had a great start and an exciting first lap before he was then able to control his pace in sixth on Soft tyres. After the pit-stop we switched to Medium tyres and just did enough to match the times of [Pierre] Gasly to stay in front of him.”
Seidl praised Sainz Jr.’s recovery drive, which saw him start the race from the back of the grid in nineteenth, working his way through the field into the points and eighth place.
“Carlos made a great start from last position and then had to do a long first stint on the Medium tyre to create the opportunity to attack on the Hard tyre in the second half of the race.
“He made brilliant overtaking moves and his charge only ended when he ran wide once and broke the front wing when he was in sight of overtaking [Pierre] Gasly. After this he did an excellent job to bring it home in eighth.”
Seidl concluded that the race had been a great result for the team, who are determined to continue in this way for their home race next time out at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and also a good race for the sport of Formula 1 as a whole after coming under fire recently for being too predictable and boring.
“We’re looking forward to Silverstone and our home grand prix now but this was a brilliant race for Formula 1 today, not just in the midfield but also at the front, which was important after the negative comments of the last week,” added Seidl.
