Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Recommended for you

Why Rally Finland victory means as much as a WRC title to Pajari

WRC
Rally Finland
Why Rally Finland victory means as much as a WRC title to Pajari

Paddon secures extra Hyundai WRC outing in 2026

WRC
Rally del Paraguay
Paddon secures extra Hyundai WRC outing in 2026

The deep and lasting significance of the McLaren MP4/4’s forgotten older brother

Feature
Formula 1
The deep and lasting significance of the McLaren MP4/4’s forgotten older brother

WRC Finland: Pajari claims back-to-back WRC victories

WRC
Rally Finland
WRC Finland: Pajari claims back-to-back WRC victories

KTM might drop Vinales with immediate effect

MotoGP
British GP
KTM might drop Vinales with immediate effect

Supercars Perth: Payne outduels Feeney for victory

Supercars
Perth Super 440
Supercars Perth: Payne outduels Feeney for victory

Verstappen's mindset going into the F1 summer break: "Of course I can easily stop, but I love racing"

Formula 1
Hungarian GP
Verstappen's mindset going into the F1 summer break: "Of course I can easily stop, but I love racing"

Voting is open in Autosport Best of the Month for July 2026

General
Voting is open in Autosport Best of the Month for July 2026

McLaren bullish about qualifying pace

McLaren's chief engineer Tim Goss believes the British squad is now ready to match the pace of Red Bull Racing in qualifying trim

Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have scored all of this year's pole positions, as the Milton Keynes-based squad have shown incredible pace in the grid-deciding sessions.

In Turkey, however, Lewis Hamilton was very close to pole-setter Webber, as McLaren took a stop forward in performance following the Monaco Grand Prix.

Goss says McLaren's progress since Malaysia has been very promising, and even reckons Hamilton was the quickest man during parts of the Istanbul race.

"Our car, from the Malaysian Grand Prix onwards, we've found some really good pace," said Goss. "As chief engineer, I'm leading the programme and we've been working seriously hard in the factory to close the gap.

"We were taken aback at the first race at how quick the Red Bulls were, and we're working hard to close that gap.

"Up until now we've been a bit disappointed in our qualifying performance.

"In Turkey we showed we can almost match Red Bull in qualifying. We were only just over a tenth off Webber, we split the two Red Bulls, and our race pace is exceptional.

"You just have to see that we were, during the early part of the race, the quicker car, but Lewis was being held up."

Previous article Engine parity key to RBR's Renault deal
Next article Canada preview quotes: Mercedes

Top Comments

Latest news