McLaren 'trusts' FIA over Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll crash verdicts

Ricciardo in Hungary — Photo: © LAT Images

Hungarian Grand Prix

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McLaren 'trusts' FIA over Bottas and Stroll crash verdicts

Both McLaren drivers were caught up in the incidents of others at turn one

Sam Hall

Wednesday 4 August 2021 10:32

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McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has backed the FIA and stewards "to make the right decision" after handing Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll five-place grid penalties for causing lap one chaos in Hungary.

Lando Norris retired and Daniel Ricciardo sustained heavy damage after being caught up in the accidents of others at turn one on Sunday.

Bottas missed his braking point when following Norris into the first cover, nudging the McLaren into Max Verstappen and causing significant damage whilst Ricciardo was tagged by a spinning Charles Leclerc after the Ferrari was hit by Stroll.

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“Obviously, our day was over after two good race starts and then being involved in these two incidents where we were victims," said Seidl.

“I’ll leave it to others to judge what is the right action after such incidents or what would be the right penalties.

“In the end, we trust the FIA and the stewards to make the right decision there and we had better use our energy to focus on ourselves."

Ferrari gains ground on McLaren

After Sebastian Vettel's disqualification for a fuel irregularity, Carlos Sainz was promoted to third in Hungary to draw Ferrari level on points with Mclaren in the constructors' standings.

On countback of second-place finishes, however, the Scuderia has moved ahead into third.

“I think it is an open battle as we have seen throughout the first half of the season," explained Seidl.

"I have to say, clearly, the day did not go to plan but there was nothing that we can control.

“But for us, it was encouraging to see on Saturday that we could actually battle Ferrari on a track like this because that is something we didn’t expect when coming here.

“When we look at the first races this season on similar tracks where we couldn’t go their pace.

“That speaks also for the good work everyone has done back home on the development side continuously improving the car and that is encouraging for the second half of the season.

“But it is also clear Ferrari is a very strong team, very experienced and has everything in place it needs to have also a second strong half of the season.

“They have two top drivers and that is why we need to be on our A-game in all aspects of going racing if we want to compete with them."