Breaking news
Formula 1 Abu Dhabi GP
McLaren downplays talk it can close Mercedes gap soon
McLaren boss Andreas Seidl thinks it is too early for his team to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull in 2021, despite grabbing third place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Dec 14, 2020, 9:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Woking-based outfit pipped rival Racing Point for the best-of-the-rest slot behind the top two teams in the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi last weekend.
The result, coming off the back of a £185 million new investment deal with an American consortium, comes amid suggestions that McLaren could make a big step forward as it switches to Mercedes engines next season.
But Seidl is cautious about expecting too much from McLaren next year, as he says the team must accept the two outfits ahead of it are still a step clear.
“I think we need to stay realistic,” he said. “Despite the good result we have this weekend and, despite the great outcome for us in the championship side, with P3, I think we know exactly where we are. There's still a huge gap to the cars in front, especially the Mercedes car.”
Read Also:
- McLaren retains third after Sainz escapes Abu Dhabi penalty
- Mercedes: Power unit deficit worth less than 0.1s per lap
Seidl does take huge encouragement from the progress that McLaren was able to make with its MCL35 this year, as well as the way in which it executed race weekends and dealt with an aggressive update strategy.
However, with McLaren openly admitting that it needs to improve its wind tunnel, simulation facilities and simulator, Seidl thinks it will take a few years before it can hope to get on terms with teams like Mercedes.
“I think the most important thing is to first of all see that the team this year, under the leadership of James Key, has produced a very competitive car,” he explained. “It is a step forward compared to last year.
“It was great to see also that despite all these challenges in the pandemic, that the team kept pushing flat out back home in engineering, and in production, to continuously bring updates to the track, which in the end, kept improving the performance of the car.
“And of course it's a great finish to the season, knowing that at this track, at this specific event, we had the third fastest car.
“But still, we know what the gap to Mercedes is. It is not something we will close from one year to the next year.
“We still know that we have a lot of deficits within the team in terms of organisation, in terms of infrastructure, which we need to close first.
“But again, we have a clear plan of how we want to reduce these deficits. It will take time. But I'm confident that if we do the right things on the team side, we can close these gaps in some years.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hamilton wants new Mercedes F1 contract before Christmas
Next article Ricciardo "fulfilled" by Renault F1 turnaround in 2020 season
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Mercedes
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 h
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 h
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Latest news
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
2 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe