In a wet-to-dry race, Lando Norris produced an error-free display to move from sixth to fourth following a duel with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who both skidded.
Starting from 16th, Daniel Ricciardo also rode a solid race to finish behind Norris in fifth, having delayed the switch from intermediates to slicks until a safety car on lap 36.
In stark contrast to McLaren’s 22 points, both Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon retired due to power unit failures, allowing McLaren to suddenly leapfrog Enstone’s team for fourth place in the constructors’ championship and lead by four points.
When Autosport asked team boss Seidl if he was surprised to lead Alpine after generally struggling to keep pace in recent months, he said the wobble in points just shows that the fight for fourth place will remain an “open battle” until the last round. in Abu Dhabi, with Alpine’s huge score in Belgium now negated by McLaren’s success in Singapore.
“Well, if you look at how the races went from France, I think it was back and forth,” Seidl replied.
“Alpine obviously had a great weekend at Spa where we had a lot of problems. And on the other hand, we had the opportunity to do the same today when they had problems.
“So I think it’s just an open battle. I think it’s also very close in terms of performance.
“We are not getting carried away with today’s result. We know that the battle we are fighting against the Alpines in the Constructors’ Championship is very tough and that is why we are fully aware that this battle could last until at the last lap in Abu Dhabi.
“I think we have a strong car; I think we have a great team at home and here on the track and we have two great drivers. And that means we have everything we need to keep this battle going. life until the last lap of Abu Dhabi, and that’s what we’re going to try.
“I’m happy with the 22 points but at the same time I have a realistic view of today’s result.”
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
While it was tempting for Ricciardo’s garage side to emulate Mercedes’ George Russell with a disastrous bet early on, Seidl praised the team for remaining patient instead.
This risk-averse strategy was rewarded with the timing of a safety car for Yuki Tsunoda’s crash, which allowed both drivers to switch to slicks after everyone else had already done so.
“The team did a great job on the pit wall as well as good communication with the drivers to strike the right balance between trying to get a great result while being patient and not taking unnecessary risks,” explained Seidl.
“Obviously it was good to watch what George was doing after switching to medium tires early on, and it was clear to a point that it would just have meant an unnecessary risk of switching too soon.
“Riders obviously report how they feel on track. We tried to match that with the data we see, especially today seeing what George was doing.
“Based on that, together with the drivers, we made the decisions we made and I’m very happy that they were the right ones.
“And what a ride from both riders I have to say too. It was very tricky, we saw a lot of riders going long or going into the barriers and Lando and Daniel didn’t get anything today which shows that they are world-class drivers.”
