Executive Director of Racing at McLaren F1 Team, Andreas Seidl, finds himself feeling mixed after another great qualifying session for Lando Norris (who put his MCL36 in fifth place on the grid); but a continued difficult weekend for Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to make it into the third stage of qualifying with a fourteenth place finish.
Norris, who has recovered from an illness he experienced at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, has been on the pace throughout the sessions held at Monte Carlo so far, and finds himself ahead of the two Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team cars looking forward to Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
A red flag at the end of Qualifying Three, due to an incident involving Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz at Turn Eight on the final laps of the session, certainly helped the Briton put his car just behind the Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing cars, though his results in practice so far have been very promising. Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s weekend went from bad to worse in qualifying following his crash in Free Practice Two.
“Mixed feelings after the Monaco qualifying for us. Starting the race tomorrow in P5 is a great result of the work the entire team has put into the development of the car with the updated package we brought to Barcelona. Lando felt comfortable around here from the first run onwards yesterday and delivered great laps when required,” the director explained.
“Unfortunately, Daniel couldn’t progress into Q3 and starts the race from P14 tomorrow. Big thank you to his crew for repairing the car overnight after the crash yesterday and having it ready again for FP3 today,” he continued.
“The weather forecast could spice up things for tomorrow. Maximum focus now on preparation for the race as we want to be ready with both cars for any opportunities that come our way.”
With the weather conditions looking uncertain for tomorrow, McLaren will be hoping to hold position with Norris, but gain as many places as possible with Ricciardo in the most unforgiving race of the season.
