With midfield rival Ferrari in 2021 once again vying for wins, McLaren have taken a step back in 2022, heading into the summer break in fifth in the constructors’ championship behind Alpine.
The Enstone team, with which McLaren are now also embroiled in an off-track struggle over the services of Oscar Piastri, have generally had the measure of their Woking rivals in the first batch of 13 2022 F1 grands prix.
But while McLaren struggles to keep up with the top three teams from Alpine and F1 over a race distance, team leader Lando Norris has qualified particularly well in recent races.
Norris qualified fourth in Hungary, three tenths ahead of the two Alpine cars, after starting fifth in France and sixth on the grid in Britain – beating one of the Mercedes cars each time.
When asked why McLaren managed to perform well in qualifying only to then fall back during the race, Seidl explained that qualifying can mask some of the car’s deficits as it manages to get the most out of the Pirelli tires over one lap.
“I think in general if we compare our competitiveness in qualifying versus racing, I guess in qualifying the deficits that our car still has in the end compared to those top three cars. I would say mainly on the downforce, obviously you can mask a lot with the grip of the tires over one lap in qualifying,” he explained.
“But then over race distance, the lack of performance or downforce obviously eats away at the tyres. And I guess that’s why you see the biggest gap over race distance then.”
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
McLaren trails Alpine by just four points heading into the summer break, largely thanks to Norris’ 76-point run which puts the Briton seventh and best of the rest in the Drivers’ Championship.
Seidl said McLaren’s recent improvements have helped him stay in the fight for fourth in the standings, although he acknowledged the top three teams are still miles away, although McLaren can beat a Mercedes at times. in qualifying.
“In terms of race pace, I guess compared to Alpine for example, we were in a good position. [in Hungary]. Certainly in a better position compared to the previous weekend at [France],” he added.
“I think thanks to the upgrade we’ve brought to France, which we’ve further optimized here in terms of usability, thanks to the work the team has also done in terms of learning from what we’ve seen to Paul Ricard, I guess we took a good step forward here.
“Now it’s just important to keep going and keep improving the car because when you see the difference in lap times, which is still there in qualifying too, it’s clear that [the top teams] just having a much more powerful car.”
With midfield rival Ferrari in 2021 once again vying for wins, McLaren have taken a step back in 2022, heading into the summer break in fifth in the constructors’ championship behind Alpine.
The Enstone team, with which McLaren are now also embroiled in an off-track struggle over the services of Oscar Piastri, have generally had the measure of their Woking rivals in the first batch of 13 2022 F1 grands prix.
But while McLaren struggles to keep up with the top three teams from Alpine and F1 over a race distance, team leader Lando Norris has qualified particularly well in recent races.
Norris qualified fourth in Hungary, three tenths ahead of the two Alpine cars, after starting fifth in France and sixth on the grid in Britain – beating one of the Mercedes cars each time.
When asked why McLaren managed to perform well in qualifying only to then fall back during the race, Seidl explained that qualifying can mask some of the car’s deficits as it manages to get the most out of the Pirelli tires over one lap.
“I think in general if we compare our competitiveness in qualifying versus racing, I guess in qualifying the deficits that our car still has in the end compared to those top three cars. I would say mainly on the downforce, obviously you can mask a lot with the grip of the tires over one lap in qualifying,” he explained.
“But then over race distance, the lack of performance or downforce obviously eats away at the tyres. And I guess that’s why you see the biggest gap over race distance then.”
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
McLaren trails Alpine by just four points heading into the summer break, largely thanks to Norris’ 76-point run which puts the Briton seventh and best of the rest in the Drivers’ Championship.
Seidl said McLaren’s recent improvements have helped him stay in the fight for fourth in the standings, although he acknowledged the top three teams are still miles away, although McLaren can beat a Mercedes at times. in qualifying.
“In terms of race pace, I guess compared to Alpine for example, we were in a good position. [in Hungary]. Certainly in a better position compared to the previous weekend at [France],” he added.
“I think thanks to the upgrade we’ve brought to France, which we’ve further optimized here in terms of usability, thanks to the work the team has also done in terms of learning from what we’ve seen to Paul Ricard, I guess we took a good step forward here.
“Now it’s just important to keep going and keep improving the car because when you see the difference in lap times, which is still there in qualifying too, it’s clear that [the top teams] just having a much more powerful car.”