This weekend’s French Grand Prix marks the start of the first triple header of the season, for the Mclaren F1 Team it comes at an emotional time, after losing long-term major team figure and shareholder Mansour Ojjeh. McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, was due to be racing himself this weekend, however he has pulled out of the event in order to commemorate Ojjeh at this weekend’s grand prix.
With Ojjeh very much in the team’s thoughts and hearts, this weekends French Grand Prix also see’s the championship move off the streets and back onto conventional circuits. McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl knows how important it is the team continue with their strong momentum, at a time when their opponents appear to be finding form, however he also makes clear that this weekend the team are racing in honour of Ojjeh.
“After street circuits in Monaco and Baku, our attention now turns towards the first triple-header of the season with the first race in France. As a team we know what to expect from the demands of a triple-header and we’re well prepared for the task at hand. Keeping strong momentum operationally, with our reliability and the management of spare parts is a priority to overcome the unique challenges that back-to-back races present.”
“After taking the time to analyse and understand the data from Baku, it’s clear that we still need to continue to take steps forward as a team and extract the most out of our package as we compete in a very close battle with our competitors. The Circuit Paul Ricard is a different style of track compared to previous races and therefore it’s difficult to understand the pecking order ahead of the weekend.”
“Our priority going forward is to qualify well in order to put ourselves in the best position possible to score the most points on Sundays. We remain focused and determined to once again fight for good points this weekend.”
“Finally, we’ll be racing in honour of Mansour Ojjeh this weekend. He was and always will be an integral part of the McLaren family and a true inspiration to all of us.”
