Seidl: "There’s no point to see things that aren’t there"

McLaren had a remarkably good weekend in Austria. Lando Norris almost took pole position from Max Verstappen and during the race, he took P3 after a battle with Lewis Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo also had a positive race, driving from P13 to P7 on the grid. Still, the team needs to be realistic, says team principal Andreas Seidl.

A good race, therefore, but the question remains whether this strong result can be repeated at Silverstone. To Autosport.com Seidl explained that the updates to the McLaren have certainly improved the pace, but the straights at the Red Bull Ring played a big part in the good result.

“I think we need to be realistic, it was a track that suits our car,” he explained. “What was good to see is that I think, compared to last weekend, with the developments and with the fine-tuning we did with the set-up as well, we definitely made a step forward in terms of performance, both in qualifying and in the race."

Seidl continued: “That allowed us to be in a position today to battle some of the top cars. But I don’t know exactly which issues for example Mercedes had or Lewis had, which gave us a chance to then score a podium purely down to our own performance, which is great.”

Mclaren remains realistic about gap

Red Bull and Mercedes are still very strong and McLaren cannot simply be expected to continue this pace. “There’s no point to see things that aren’t there,” says Seidl. “We know exactly where we stand as a team, we know what the deficit is."

“We’re ambitious, but there is no magic and I simply think it’s always good to have a sense of realism, and not get carried away with results like Austria, which are great and give good energy to the team. But it doesn’t change the picture, the realistic picture we have in terms of where we are," ends the McLaren team boss.