Seidl urges McLaren staff not to get carried away

Shahida Jacobs
Andreas Seidl

Andreas Seidl

“Stay humble, keep our heads down, and not get carried away,” is McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl’s advice to his staff after their excellent 2019 campaign.

After several years in the doldrums, McLaren finally took some major strides forward in 2019 and they were rewarded with a third-place finish at the Brazilian GP as Carlos Sainz ended their five-year drought for a podium.

The result also helped them to wrap up fourth place in the Constructors’ Championships.

They no doubt want to push on next year, but Seidl urged his troops to stay grounded.

“We have high targets and definitely medium-term we want to close the gap to the top teams and fight for podiums and race wins again,” he told Autosport.com.

“At the same time, we need to be realistic of what is achievable from one year to the next one.

“We have a lot of respect for the top three teams and what they’re doing.

“But at the same time, I’m also making sure within the team that we keep up this respect for every other team that we are fighting with at the moment, because everybody’s trying hard to improve year by year.

“All of these teams that are in the paddock have great people working for them and great talents. So, it’s a very complex sport. This is why you can never take something for granted.

“It’s important to stay humble, keep our heads down, and not get carried away with the step we could make from year to year.

“We have to simply keep working hard in order to make sure we become better as a team.”

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