McLaren F1 Team’s team principal Andreas Seidl says it was a great recovery drive in Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday after disappointing results in qualifying, strengthening their spot in third position in the Constructors’ Championship.
The British-based team failed to have both drivers starting in the top ten on the grid after Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in Q3 of qualifying yesterday. However, the Australian managed to fight his way through the pack and finished ninth, securing an important two points for the team in the midfield battle.
Coming off the back of a podium in Imola, Lando Norris had another fantastic race in Portimao, finishing fifth and maintains third place in the driver standings, five points ahead of Mercedes AMG Petronas’ Valtteri Bottas.
Seidl praised the team for fighting back after a disappointing qualifying and acknowledges how important the two points scored by Ricciardo could be in the future: “Today we saw a great recovery drive. Well done to the entire team here at the track and back home, to both our drivers and to our colleagues from Mercedes HPP for striking back after a disappointing qualifying session yesterday.
“Lando completed another excellent weekend with a very strong drive to P5.
Seidl continued: “Starting from P16, Daniel managed a very good first stint, making up a lot of positions at the start, delaying his pit-stop to gain further places, and then attacking at the end to finish P9, scoring another two important points for himself and for the team in the Constructors’ Championship.”
The result in Portugal extends McLaren’s lead over Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow for the third position in the constructors’ championship after Carlos Sainz Jr dropped out of the points in the final few laps, giving the Woking-based outfit some more breathing space.
Seidl is encouraged by the result in Portugal but says it’s important to keep developing the car as the races start coming in thick and fast, starting with Spanish Grand Prix next week.
“This result strengthened our hold on third position in the Constructors’ Championship, which is obviously very encouraging.
“It’s important we keep developing the car and delivering strong performances over the next few races – starting at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in less than five days’ time.”
