McLaren

How McLaren has gone from catastrophe to consistency with pit-stop progress

Team has improved considerably in the space of two years

Sam Hall & Ewan Gale

Tuesday 5 October 2021 14:36

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl is happy with the progress the team has made with pit stops after coping under "ultimate pressure" to break its F1 victory duck in Italy recently.

The Woking-based team has struggled for consistency in the pits over the last few years, with mistakes often denting its chances of positive results.

In recent races, however, there has been a vast improvement in pit stop times and although there was a small human error surrounding the new technical directive in Russia, Seidl explained how his team had progressed.

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“I think this topic involves a lot of different aspects," said Seidl. "First and foremost, it was two years ago that we started to upgrade our pit stop hardware because we were simply not at the level of the top teams here in Formula 1.

“In 2019, especially, that was causing some really catastrophic pit stops where we sent the car in the pit lane with wheels not being tight, so it was very important that we did these updates in order to help the team to avoid this.

“Then it was simply important to work together with the team on the execution of the pit stops. In order to do that you also need to create, first of all, stability on the team side in terms of personnel.

"That is what we could achieve in the last two and a half years different to the past which is one of the key elements that we have pit stops now that are a lot quicker and a lot more consistent as well."

Daniel Ricciardo controlled the Italian Grand Prix last month with a pit stop from the lead that proved to be the quickest of the race.

"I am very happy with the progress we could make," added Seidl. "I am very happy to see, for example, that in a race where we had the ultimate pressure like in Monza the team actually could pull off the quickest pit stop."

Seidl - "First thing we do is analyse"

Lando Norris' pole in Russia came after near-misses in Austria and Imola where the British driver came close to landing top spot on the grid.

Although Norris failed to follow up with a victory at the Sochi Autodrom, the pole at least underlined and continued the form shown with the team's one-two at Monza.

Despite the hot streak McLaren is currently on, Seidl insisted there is still plenty of room for improvement within the team.

“It is the same for every aspect in racing, of course, we celebrate moments like Lando’s pole in Russia or the weekend in Monza," said Seidl.

"But at the same time, the second we cross the start-finish line after a qualifying or a race, the first thing we do is analyse what we could have done better.

“There is still a lot we can do better and I like this spirit within the team. I want to see this spirit because that is what is required in order to get to the front in Formula 1.”