F1 | Seidl explains Ricciardo's lack of pace in Barcelona was due to an issue with the car, as he says Norris is already "doing better" after tonsillitis diagnosis
The German Team Principal spoke on McLaren difficult weekend at Barcelona as the team declares ready to race in Monaco.
The McLaren Team Principal began his press conference talking about Lando Norris’s condition after it was revealed the Briton raced the Spanish Grand Prix with tonsillitis.
“After the race in Barcelona, the most important thing was that we as a team gave him the maximum time for recovery. Which we did. He also had great support from the Team Doctor and his personal trainer as well, to make sure he had full energy in FP.”
“As always. For every race weekend, we always have reserve drivers ready, for instance, in case of Lando wouldn’t have been fully fit.”
“He’s probably still under 100% but I think he’s doing better already.”
The next topic on the table switched to Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie faced more criticism after he took the checkered flag at Barcelona in 12th position. Meanwhile teammate Lando Norris, with his already mentioned condition, finished 8th.
Andreas Seidl defended the 32-year-old driver explaining the challenger n°3 from McLaren had a technical issue that explained the lack of pace at Montmeló.
“As always we did a detailed analysis of the race, because we had to find an explanation for why Daniel was dragging so much. We found an issue with the car. We have understood the issue. We will learn from that and now we are moving forward.”
“The most important thing was to find an explanation to what we were seeing during the race.”
“I think, in the end, everything has been said from Daniel’s side and from our side. In the end, we just need to keep working together with maximum commitment in order to make this next final step. That’s what it is about and that’s what we are doing.”
“The way we approach it, as a team, together with Daniel, is simply, staying focused, heads down, keep working hard, session by session, race by race, in order to make this final step to make him feel totally comfortable in the car.”
And just like that, the future of Daniel Ricciardo is now being questioned yet again, as the pinnacle category of motorsport is still waiting for the Australian to come back to perform at his peak level.
“I think there have been some speculations and comments after last race. No, we have a contract in process, we always say it, for next year our focus is to simply get this to work,” Seidl concluded.
