McLaren not yet ready for title fight: 'Still have a long way to go'

At Monza, there was a 1-2 for McLaren and in Russia, Lando Norris led for a long time, but in Turkey the team from Woking were brought back down to earth. Andreas Seidl and his team saw this coming.

For many it seemed like McLaren had brought a great upgrade to Monza, but at the team they knew better. Of course, the result in Italy was nice, but at most tracks the team is still not close to Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. That it would be difficult in Turkey, was no big surprise.

McLaren chases the frontrunners

''We knew in advance that it would be a difficult Grand Prix for us. We had problems earlier in the season at this kind of circuit and fell back to behind Ferrari. I always try to stay realistic with our successes. That realistic view came up again in Istanbul. We know where we stand. We have made good progress in recent years, but there is still a long way to go,'' said the McLaren team boss at Auto, Motor und Sport.

''We really celebrated the moments of success, like the one-two in Monza or the pole position in Sochi. That was the reward for the hard work. And that gives us new motivation after bad weekends like in Istanbul'', concludes Seidl. The team will be looking forward to 2022, where with an all new car it might be able to attack the top.