“Didn’t expect we could be so close to Mercedes”– McLaren boss Andreas Seidl never expected to be significantly closer to the big two.
Mclaren had a good start to the season and might able to remain at the P3 standing in the constructors’, which they achieved last year and was also their this year’s aim.
However, in the first five races, McLaren has been able to compete against Red Bull and Mercedes on the straight, and that has shocked the team principal Andreas Seidl.
“I would say we definitely didn’t expect that in terms of pace, that we could be so close to Mercedes, Red Bull, and also Ferrari,” Andreas Seidl told Motorsport.com.
“We have seen since the beginning of the season, and in the first races, we were always struggling in the low-speed sections, so that was really encouraging to see this weekend.”
With this, Seidl believes that he would have to view against Ferrari across the season for the P3, and for that, they would need to bring consistent results.
“For the championship, how the race played out was obviously a good outcome for us because, seeing the strong pace Ferrari had on Thursday and also on Saturday, yes there was high risk to lose a lot of points to them.”
Daniel Ricciardo needs to step up.
While McLaren has been fetching a massive number of points from Lando Norris, they are yet to get adequate contribution from Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian has been struggling in the MCL35M, and Seidl would require him to accelerate his success rate on the weekends to split the Ferrari’s threat from Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
However, while Seidl is also patient with Ricciardo and wants him to settle in, as he believes once it is achieved, Ricciardo will be a decisive force for them.
