Andreas Seidl wants McLaren to close in on top three teams

Andreas Seidl says that McLaren can continue their upward trajectory back towards the front of the F1 grid in 2020, targeting closing the gap on the top three teams in the coming year. McLaren finished fourth in the constructors' standing in 2019, and were comfortably the best of the midfield teams.

Seidl's arrival at the team has coincided with their resurgence up the grid, and their driver line-up of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris is one of the most exciting on the F1 grid right now.

Seidl said in a Q and A: "I think we have a very good understanding of the weaknesses the MCL34 had in 2019 and it is great to see how the entire team is working together very hard on improving.

"I’m optimistic that we can make the next step, which is to further reduce the lap time deficit to the top three teams.

"I’m optimistic that we can be successful again, but you need to be realistic about what’s achievable year-by-year."