"Quality" of Sainz and Norris underlined by "sensational" Turkish GP - Seidl

Turkish Grand Prix

"Quality" of Sainz and Norris underlined by "sensational" Turkish GP - Seidl

McLaren recovered from poor qualifying and grid penalties to score double-points finish

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 18 November 2020 16:44

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McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl believes the team's "sensational" result from a difficult Turkish Grand Prix confirmed the quality of drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

Sainz recovered from 15th on the grid to narrowly miss out on a podium in fifth, whilst team-mate Norris put a poor start behind him to finish eighth.

After rivals Racing Point qualified first and third on the grid - with McLaren outside the top 10 with both cars even before penalties for qualifying infringements - it had looked as though the fight for third in the constructors' championship was over.

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But Seidl insists the damage limitation achieved in Turkey underlines the calibre of his team under extreme circumstances.

"A race like that is obviously one where you see the quality of the drivers you have," he said.

"What the guys did just confirmed what quality they are. They kept it together, they also kept calm, they kept it on track and pulled off, I would say, a sensational performance, together with the team.

"Also, on the team side, the pit-stops and strategy calls were spot on, so I am happy with this.

"We simply need to make sure we now finish higher on Saturdays because if we look at what happened Sunday, starting even higher up on the grid we would have scored even more but looking at the overall weekend, I am very happy with the outcome."

With track conditions in Turkey proving extremely challenging, Seidl conceded it was a shock to have such good pace on race day.

"We couldn't expect that suddenly we would have such a competitive car in these conditions," he added. "In the end, it was obviously a great recovery by us and a great outcome.

"What I will say is after probably one of the worst Saturdays we have experienced for quite some time, for me, it was simply good and encouraging to see how the team dealt with the situation on Saturday night and in the morning [Sunday].

"It was important to somehow reset straight after quali and go back to work, analyse how we could move forward and I have to say how the team approached the situation was good to see.

"In the end, events like Saturday happen in this sport, we have all experienced it in the past.

"It is important to deal with these situations in the right way and that is encouraging for me to see because it is part of the journey we are in and hopefully makes us better in the future."

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