McLaren F1 Team Principal Andreas Seidl says that he believes the grip levels in terms of the track evolution at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from Friday to tomorrow’s race should be vastly improved.
Speaking to Paddock Eye during a conference call following qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, Seidl said that everyone knows the strategy that the teams will be going for up and down the pit lane as it is expected that the race on Sunday will be a one-stop event.
Daniel Ricciardo who starts the race from seventh place told Paddock Eye that he was surprised that he was able to split the two Ferrari’s with Carlos Sainz ahead of him in sixth and Charles Leclerc just behind him in the second Ferrari.
Lando Norris says that he hopes that he can dispatch the Aston Martin’s and the Alpine’s early on in the race and the aim for him is to fight for a place in the top ten but he is unsure that he will be able to get up to where Ricciardo is.
Daniel Ricciardo went on to say:
It’s a little bittersweet because obviously Carlos [Sainz] is two-milliseconds in front, but to split the Ferraris is not too bad around here. We worked as a team well, with Lando giving me some help. I think the clean side of the grid should be OK tomorrow. I made a little mistake in Turn 13 which I think cost me sixth but the clean side of the grid isn’t a bad offset, so we’ll work with that.
“We did make improvements going into today, yesterday was tricky as we missed a lot of running. We hit the ground running and I think we have to be fairly pleased with P7. We’ll try to get a couple off the start tomorrow
Lando Norris commented on the qualifying session saying:
“A good enough day, I don’t think there was a lot more we could do. We helped Daniel to get into the best position possible, which we achieved. We struggled a little bit with the car in general, but we’re still hopeful for a positive result. I think we can have a good race, but we’ll need to work hard tonight to give ourselves a good plan going into tomorrow”
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal with McLaren F1 said:
“After a tough start into the weekend yesterday, the team stayed focused and worked hard and came back strongly today, with a car that was competitive on pace against our immediate rivals. Starting P7 and from the back of the grid means our drivers face different challenges tomorrow, so tonight we focus on preparing for those scenarios, while looking forward to another exciting race.”