McLaren F1 Team had a positive day at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, which played host to the United States Grand Prix.
Team-mates Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris finished in seventh and eighth position respectively, scoring a total of ten points.
Despite bringing home a solid result, Sainz Jr. believes he could have done better, after his race was compromised following being hit going into the first corner.
“It was a good day’s work for the team. We managed to bring home a couple of points finishes and a good ten points in the bag, so congratulations to everyone. For me, personally, I feel we could’ve achieved more, but my race was compromised at the start after I got hit into Turn One,” said the Spaniard.
Starting on the Hard compound tyre, he decided to go for a one-stop strategy, which meant he ran a longer second stint.
“Stopping for the Hard tyre and going for one-stop meant I did a very long second stint. The pace was decent and we managed to secure an important eighth,” said Sainz Jr.
Pleased with his performance, he said he is now focused on the next race of the season in Brazil.
“All in all a positive weekend and we move on to Brazil aiming for more.”
Similarly, Norris was pleased to secure a points finish.
“A good race for the team and me! I had a really good launch off the line and was up to fifth position after the first few corners. We’re doing a good job in this respect and it’s a good strength of ours,” he said.
Having an easy few opening laps, the Brit said he struggled to keep up with Renault F1 Team‘s Daniel Ricciardo, and also found his opening stint on the Soft tyre a challenge.
“The rest of the race was tough, especially the first stint on the Softs. I struggled a lot compared to Daniel [Ricciardo] in the later laps with the tyres, which we kind of expected.”
Stopping on lap 19 to change to the Hard tyre, Norris said he was then able to catch up with Ricciardo, but not able to pass him.
“We then did the Hard tyre stint and was close to getting Daniel after the stop. I tried to look after the tyres.
“He wasn’t pushing too much, so I was trying to push, and see if he made any mistake where I could get past him.
“But he didn’t and was just controlling the pace. We decided to box for Mediums and go for the two-stop – which turned out to be really good.”
Team principal Andreas Seidl is positive after underachieving last weekend in the Mexican Grand Prix.
“Having underperformed last Sunday in Mexico we needed to bounce back here, so it was good to secure another 10 vital points in our fight for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Seidl.
“Our teamwork today was key to our overall performance: from the mechanics, the engineering team here and back at our home base, and from the drivers, who’ve both put in very strong performances all weekend.”
