Andreas Seidl was delighted with another strong race weekend for the McLaren F1 Team at the Hungaroring, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris finishing fifth and ninth respectively in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Sainz was one of the stars of the race, holding off Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly for much of the afternoon, with the Spaniard claiming his second fifth place finish in as many weeks to add to the same result he achieved at the Hockenheimring.
Norris was less fortunate and was unable to better ninth, although he lost two positions thanks to a slow pit stop, which was down to a wheel gun issue, before losing out on eighth to a charging Valtteri Bottas in the closing laps.
“It’s been another very strong weekend for the team,” said Seidl, the Team Principal of McLaren. “It was a very impressive drive from Carlos after a great start. He kept Gasly behind him all through the second part of the race and didn’t miss a beat to secure P5.
“Lando was unlucky. He was set up for a higher finish before a problem with the left-rear wheel gun cost him two positions in the pit-stop and left him exposed to Bottas at the end.”
Seidl says the hard work being put in by the team both at the track and at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking is paying off as they further consolidated their fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, with a thirty-nine point gap between them and fifth placed Scuderia Toro Rosso heading into the summer break.
“Very hard work over the last month – both at the track and back at the MTC – is paying off,” revealed Seidl. “We were clearly the fourth-fastest team, and scoring another 12 vital points locks us into fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Every single member of the team can take heart from that going into the summer break. The next job is for everyone to recharge their batteries and come back even stronger in Spa.”