McLaren vow to "strike back" against Ferrari in Brazil

Sainz chased by Ricciardo and Leclerc in Mexico — Photo: © LAT Images

São Paulo Grand Prix

McLaren vow to "strike back" against Ferrari in Brazil

McLaren has dropped behind Ferrari in the constructors' standings

Sam Hall

Saturday 13 November 2021 09:15

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McLaren boss Andreas Seidl has declared it is "time to strike back" as his team seek to find a way to stop Ferrari's recent resurgence.

In this year's fight for third in the constructors' championship, a new power unit that was introduced by the Scuderia in Turkey has resulted in it taking a 13.5-point lead over McLaren after going into that race 17.5 adrift.

Following qualifying for the sprint race, Ferrari again has the edge with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc starting sixth and seventh, directly ahead of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in eighth and ninth, setting up a fascinating duel.

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"Ferrari has definitely got momentum on their side at the moment and it is about time to strike back on our side," said Seidl.

“It is not a surprise that a team like Ferrari, after the unique season they had last year [when it finished sixth, its worst position for 40 years], is coming back strong.

"It is what we would expect from that team with that experience and that infrastructure and with the drivers they have."

McLaren-Ferrari trade compliments

Ahead of the weekend, both Ferrari and McLaren talked up the chances of the other, leading Seidl to joke: "We talk each other up quite a lot at the moment."

He added: “I think in terms of the track layout, track characteristics, there are some challenges for us that expose the weaknesses of our car.

"Especially the last sector for example, with the long lower-medium speed corners.

"I think we simply have to focus on ourselves, make sure we extract the maximum from our package and hopefully that is enough to put Ferrari under pressure here.

“It is also clear, after the weekend we had in Mexico where we got only one point, that we want to strike back. It is what we will try and do.”