Mclaren team principal Andreas Seidl has admitted that Racing Point, who are their current rivals has the fastest cars in the up-field behind Mercedes and Redbull, who are the top teams in the constructors championship.
Mclaren are currently third in the constructors championship as the Rivaling Racing Point team closely falls in 4th having only a two-point difference. The gap was narrowed down during the Russian Grand Prix when Mclaren failed to score any points as Carlos Sainz crashed and Lando Norris finished outside the points at 15th. Racing Point on the other hand had Sergio Perez finishing at 4th although his teammate Lance Stroll experienced a crash.
Seidl said earlier this week that Racing Point was living up to its potential as it showed in pre-testing sessions during March. The Racing Point car was named ‘the pink Mercedes’ for its striking similarity with the 2019 champion winning Mercedes car.
“In terms of pure car potential I think the Racing Point is similar to how it has been in average since Barcelona test, it’s clearly the fastest car in this battle.” Seidl said.
Racing Point were docked 15 points for copying the 2019 version of Mercedes Formula 1 car,the W10, but now the team is on the verge of passing Mclaren and taking the third position in the counstructors championship in the Eifel Grand Prix which will be held at the Nurburgring.
Racing point is not the only team applying pressure to Mclaren, the Renault F1 team are also closing in as they have Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon who are putting pretty impressive performance for the team.
“Renault is also clear they made a good step forward since I think Spa, we were always close battling them in the races like in Monza we were in front of them, or in the mix, in qualifying sessions,” acknowledged Seidl.
“It’s down to us to make sure that we also progress with our car and find the next step in terms of pace also if we want to keep this battle alive.
“It’s positive to see how we tackle this situation as a team, between let’s say the race team and the development team back home.”
The Carlos Sainz crash at the Russian grand prix at Sochi slowed Mclaren’s campaign as he also got into the way of Lando Norris, slowing him down. Norris was running on an upgraded nose for the MCL35 car.
“It was a very disappointing Sunday afternoon for us, coming away from Russia with zero points,” Seidl admitted.
“Our race was pretty much over after two corners, with Carlos running into the barriers, and then Lando having to take avoiding action finishing up at the back of the field.
“It’s important to go back, analyse what happened this weekend, and also in detail what the introduction of this new nose box on Lando’s car,” he said.
“It’s important to make the right conclusions and bring upgrades in order to keep this battle alive,” he added.
