"Sensational" drivers and reliability behind McLaren success - Seidl

McLaren

"Sensational" drivers and reliability behind McLaren success - Seidl

McLaren finished third in the constructors' championship after pipping Racing Point in the final race of 2020

Ewan Gale

Tuesday 5 January 2021 09:24

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Andreas Seidl believes the key behind McLaren's successful 2020 season was the team's reliability record and the "sensational" racing from Lando Norris and former driver Carlos Sainz.

McLaren clinched third place in the constructors' championship, finishing ahead of Racing Point - now Aston Martin - by seven points after a season-long tussle that also involved Renault.

It was the first time since 2012 McLaren had claimed such a lofty position when Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were the driver pairing.

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Delving into the reasons behind the rare success, Seidl said: “Reliability was outstanding on the car side.

"We didn’t have a single DNF this year on the team’s side which is a big step forward compared to last year, and then also the strategy team did a great job on race Sundays.

“Our two drivers obviously did a sensational job again, similar to last year, and they made us score all of these great points.”

McLaren benefitted from a 15-point deduction handed to Racing Point after it was deemed it was running illegal brake ducts in the early races of the year.

Given the closeness of the battle across the season, Seidl said the nature of the MCL35 meant that it was consistently in the mix even it was rarely the fastest in the midfield battle.

“I think we had a competitive car throughout the season, a bit of an all-rounder," he explained.

"We were always in a position to, most of the time, get into Q3 and always started the races in positions that we were able to fight for good points.

“Then, obviously, we had a great team at the track which was simply very good in terms of execution of race weekends, qualifying sessions and strategy.

“On the pit stop side where we struggled, definitely in the beginning of the season, in terms of pit stop times and consistency, I think we have seen we made a continuous improvement and in the end [this was] a strength as well of our team."