Andreas Seidl says that McLaren will do everything they can to give Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris a more competitive car whilst also stating his commitment to making the Australian fully comfortable with the MCL36. 

McLaren’s 2022 started off poorly with only six points out of the first two races, but the team made up ground in Australia with their first double points finish of the season. Things continued to get better for McLaren when the series returned to Europe as Norris picked up McLaren’s first podium of the season in the wet at Imola, and since that trip to the rostrum, the young Brit has continued to perform well, scoring points in Spain and Monaco.

However, the same could not be said for Ricciardo, who has been on a wretched run of form since colliding with Carlos Sainz on the opening lap in Imola, with three non-scores putting the Australian’s future back on the bubble. Last weekend’s race in Monaco was a particularly low point for Ricciardo as a risky set-up by the team caused him to slam into the barrier at the Swimming pool section during the opening stages of FP2, compromising the rest of his weekend.

Despite having yet another sluggish weekend, Seidl said in a media session shortly after the Monaco weekend of which MotorLAT attended that the team would continue to try everything they could to get Ricciardo fully comfortable with the car.

“As always, after a race weekend, and it doesn’t matter what the result is, the (first) thing I do is I thank my drivers for trying hard (over the) weekend and doing the job they did on the track. It’s simply important as always to stay calm, focused and committed on both sides, which Daniel is and which we are; as always, we will go forward tomorrow in the analysis of how the race weekend went.

"We will do some simulator work before we head to Baku, and hopefully, we can make another small step in the next races in order to get Daniel to be 100% comfortable with the car, especially when it comes to qualifying and he has to push it to the absolute limit.”

Seidl also praised Norris’s recent performances that have seen him struggle with a bout of tonsillitis that has hampered his preparations for the Spain/Monaco double header.

“He’s confirming he’s definitely something special (and) that he has everything he needs to become a great (driver) in this sport, and that’s great to see for me as (someone) who is in charge of the team and also how he pulled through in the last two weekends with this illness as well as impressive and also coming here being on it really from the first run onwards was very pleasing to see, not putting a foot wrong.

"In the race today, it was again another outstanding performance, and yeah, I am just happy to have him in the team for many more years; now it’s simply down to us to give both him and Daniel an even better car as in the end, they want to fight higher up not just for P6.”