Seidl: “We must be patient despite our ambitions”

In Melbourne, Lando Norris took fifth place just ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. For any spectator who hasn’t watched a Grand Prix since 2021, seeing the orange cars in the top 6 is not surprising. However, at the beginning of this season, it’s almost a victory for the British team. After numerous difficulties during winter tests, McLaren had confirmed the fears by completely missing out on the opening Grand Prix in Bahrain.

The second race of the season in Saudi Arabia had been better, on a different kind of track. Norris finished in seventh place and Daniel Ricciardo would have been in the points without a retirement. In Melbourne, the MCL36s capitalized on this great performance to establish themselves as the fourth force of the weekend, behind the top three teams. Andreas Seidl is pleased with the progress made by his team and the advancement in car development.

“I am very happy to say that we have a clear plan in place now. What we need to do to reach new levels of performance will take time. We need to be patient, despite our ambitions. But the most important thing is to have a clear plan that we are executing now,” stated Seidl.

The McLaren director also detailed what made the MCL36 perform well this weekend. According to him, the track, similar to Jeddah and very different from Bahrain, suits the car better. « This is due to three things. We made some small improvements that worked. The track suited us well. What we learned from Jeddah, we implemented it to be in a more competitive position », detailed the British.

McLaren now has 24 points and ranks at a surprising fourth place in the constructors’ championship. Like Mercedes, the Woking team has managed to collect the points left behind by its direct competitors to minimize its deficit, despite a car whose true performance remains difficult to assess.