McLaren taking ‘no comfort’ from Imola podium

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said he is taking “no comfort” despite the team’s recent improvement.

So far, the 2022 season for McLaren has been a story of two parts. In the opening two races, the team’s problems were there for all to see and a combined six points had many already writing them off.

Two races later however and the team is back on song, picking up 40 points including a podium place for Lando Norris at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The upturn in form has seen them rise to fourth in the Constructors’ Standings, a position that looked unattainable just two races ago, and Norris himself said he believed that McLaren was now “comfortably” the third quickest car on the grid behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

Despite this dramatic improvement, one man who is not getting carried away just yet is team boss Andreas Seidl.

The 46-year-old has warned both those within the team and without that there was hard work still to be done if McLaren were to achieve their objectives for the season and said he is taking “no comfort” in their improved recent performance.

“I think from what we have seen now from Melbourne and Imola, the car is working under all kinds of conditions and also different track layouts, which is very positive,” Seidl said, as reported by Motorsport.com.

McLaren looking to keep up their good form

McLaren scored their first podium of the year at Imola, so they'll be hoping they can keep that form up going into Miami.

“But, at the same time, if you look at the field where it is very close between the Mercedes, us, Valtteri [Bottas], and Kevin [Magnussen], there’s no comfort in what we are seeing now in the last few weekends.

“I’m never too confident because I know that the machinery in this paddock with all teams is not standing still, but I am confident that we have a car and a package which is able at each weekend at the moment to fight for Q3 and fight for good points.

“And that goes together with a strong team and two strong drivers.”

Seidl also said one of the most encouraging elements for him was seeing an improvement across the weekend and not just during a single lap.

“It’s not just about lap time performance,” he said.

“It’s also about putting the weekends together and I give really big compliments to the team about how everyone pulled it off in Imola despite some challenges like not getting many laps done in P2.

“It was great to see for me how the team was dealing with the challenge of the Bahrain race weekend, and how everyone stayed calm and united and simply kept their head down and kept working together as one team through it.

“That was very pleasing to see because that was the first real test of everything we had put in place over the last three years, where the sun was always shining.

“So I am very pleased with that, and very pleased as well to know that we have a plan in place of where we want to bring more performance to the car in the next weeks and months.”