Andreas Seidl says the McLaren F1 Team are looking forward to finishing the 2021 Formula 1 season on a high with a double-points finish, and they will go into the finale in Abu Dhabi with both drivers starting inside the top ten.
Lando Norris put in a superb performance to take third place on the grid at the Yas Marina Circuit, with the Briton’s final lap good enough to relegate Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez to fourth. He also finished ahead of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Valtteri Bottas.
Daniel Ricciardo was unable to better tenth on the grid for the final race of the season, with the Australian struggling to match his team-mate as he struggled to get performance out of the soft Pirelli tyre when it mattered.
Seidl, the Team Principal of McLaren, says ending the year with a good haul of points is the aim on Sunday as they bid goodbye to the MCL35M that has seen the team take one victory, four further podiums, one pole position and two fastest laps in 2021.
“A very good result from the final qualifying session of the MCL35M at the end of a long season,” said Seidl. “Lando pulled out a sensational final lap to take P3 – he’ll have a front row seat for tomorrow’s championship battle between Lewis and Max.
“Unfortunately, on Daniel’s side, he couldn’t extract the maximum from the new Soft tyre with his final attempt, which meant P10 for him.
“We’re looking forward to finishing the season on a high. We want to score good points, let’s go for it.”
