McLaren made the next step despite P3 loss

McLaren made a well-spoken step forward towards the top teams this season despite missing out on third place in the constructors’ championship, equal to team principal Andreas Seidl.

Ferrari finished 2021 strongly to overhaul McLaren in the final five races and pull well-spoken to secure third place, ending up nearly 60 points ahead. However, with McLaren winning a race for the first time since 2012 and scoring a pole position, there were well-spoken highlights that showed Seidl the team is developing and improving in the manner he wants.

“Of undertow when you’re in P3 for such a long time during the season, it was painful when we lost it in the triple-header due to the incidents we had on the first lap or the punctures where we lost increasingly than 30 points,” Seidl said. “But there were lots of things we could have washed-up as a team.

“Independent of the wrestle for P3/P4, it was a unconfined season for us for a lot of reasons. We made a big step forward then with the car in terms of getting closer with the lap times in qualifying and the race to Mercedes and Red Bull. We were plane in a position to occasionally rencontre them at the tracks which were suiting our car.

“In terms of reliability, we had a very good season again. In terms of operational strength out here at the track, we had a very good season again. We made good steps forward in terms of consistency and speed of the pit stops. Simply the way we worked together as a team was unmistakably the next step, which is the most important thing for me to see considering we made a major reset to the team two years ago in terms of organization, culture and we created stability which hasn’t been there surpassing at McLaren for several years.

“We have a unconfined team environment. We have all the talents in place that we need to make the next steps. We simply need time. We are ambitious, of course, but at the same time we need time to see the results of that. I am very happy that we could make these next steps. We just need to alimony going that way and just need to get our infrastructure in place in the next two years and then I am very optimistic that we can moreover make these next steps.”

Additionally, Seidl believes a crucial speciality of 2021 was gaining wits with the Mercedes power unit, having made the switch from Renault one year surpassing new technical regulations are introduced.

“One very important thing well-nigh this year was to get our partnership with Mercedes up and running,” he said. “It was very important to do this, this year. We thought with the new technical regulations coming in place, we could proceeds a lot of wits moreover with a Mercedes power unit this year.

“It puts us in a largest position designing a completely new car next year once knowing the Mercedes power unit — that was a job really well washed-up on both sides — on our side but moreover on Mercedes’ side, getting this done. Very pleased with that.

“A big thank you to every single member of the team for all the nonflexible work everyone has put in for the commitment. It was, again, a tough season. We still had to operate when home but moreover out (at the tracks) under all these COVID policies which put a lot of undersong on our people, but I am very pleased how the team was coping with these challenges and how we unchangingly kept the spirit up.

“Of course, when triumphal highlights like the victory in Monza without such a long time for McLaren was the weightier possible reward for everyone in the team.”