F1 | Seidl minimises fight for P3 in the constructors championship, says McLaren is on a ‘journey’
After the disappointment of missing out on a race win in the Russian Grand Prix, the McLaren team principal suggests the team isn’t focusing most of its energy on the fight with Ferrari for third place in the constructors championship, and is looking at the future instead.
McLaren are on a big upward trend this year, having switched from Renault to Mercedes power units over the winter, a move which saw the team take a race win in Monza with Daniel Ricciardo, a pole position in Russia with young superstar Lando Norris, and many other impressive results in the 2021 season. And while there is a fight going on with Ferrari for a top 3 spot in the constructors' championship, Andreas Seidl suggested that McLaren is thinking in the long term, and not too invested in fighting the red squad.
Speaking after the Russian GP, he pondered if the points missed in the late-race drama at Sochi would serve as experience and learning for the long-term or if it would just hurt the team in the battle with Ferrari, Seidl was clear about the team’s targets:
"I see us simply being in the middle of a journey, getting back to the front of Formula 1. We have a clear plan in place, of what we need to make in terms of steps, on the infrastructure side, organization side, in order to make these next steps, to battle the teams in front of us at each race weekend.
"Part of this journey is also that you have to accept that it doesn’t always go onwards and upwards. It’s a normal part of this sport that you have days like [Russia], which are obviously big disappointments.
"It’s also an opportunity to stay humble, stay with both feet on the ground, which is important in this sport, to keep the respect for all the competitors as well, and we simply keep learning."
The Woking outfit has a bright future ahead, once their plans come to fruition, he believes:
"With everything that I’m seeing in the team, I’m very happy, very confident that once we have everything in place that we need on our journey, we’ll be in a position to fight for these positions again very early."
But the team hasn’t given up on the present just yet, as he praises their good efforts in 2021:
"It’s also great to see that, already now, occasionally, depending on the tracks as well, we are in position to fight for pole positions and for a race win."
