Lando Norris in Friday practice at Portimao — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

McLaren boosted by "all-rounder" that is "closer" to Mercedes and Red Bull

McLaren is confident it can perform well at all F1 circuits on the calendar

Sam Hall

Tuesday 4 May 2021 10:44

McLaren's sensational start to the current F1 season has led team principal Andreas Seidl to label the MCL35M "an all-rounder" after visiting three vastly differing circuits.

In the heat of Bahrain, the damp of Imola and the gusts of Portimão, the McLaren MCL35M has shone consistently, particularly in the hands of Lando Norris.

McLaren has only been outscored by title challengers Mercedes and Red Bull in the early stages, although the team did claim more points from Imola than the Silver Arrows after Valtteri Bottas crashed out.

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Assessing the car overall, Seidl said: “For us, obviously, it is great to see that after three races now I would say that we have definitely had all race a car that was there in terms of being the third-best car each weekend.

“It is quite marginal to our main competitors in this fight but again it looks like we have an all-rounder because again we were there in all three races.

"You can see already with some other cars that there are some ups and downs again depending on the race tracks which is a positive."

After the opening three races, McLaren holds the unique distinction of being the only team to have scored points with both cars at each race.

Although in the third-fastest car, Norris still trailed Portuguese GP winner Lewis Hamilton by 51 seconds at the chequered flag but Seidl believes this can be viewed only as a positive as last year the team would have been lapped.

He added: “Overall, I think what is still very encouraging to see is obviously that both on Saturday and Sunday we again made a good step forward closer to the Red Bull and Mercedes cars.

“We shouldn’t forget that probably in a race like this last year where Lewis and Max went flat out until the last lap, which didn’t happen much last year because Mercedes could allow many times last year to cruise, last year they would have lapped us.

“If you look at it from this side, again, we have managed to make a good jump forward in terms of the lap-time deficit which is positive.

"We know we still simply need to keep working hard. We need to make big steps in order to get back to fight these guys back on track.

“That is not something that happens overnight, it takes time, but the important thing is that we make these continuous steps and therefore I am very happy with what I am seeing."