McLaren's start to F1 testing 'the best for many years', says Seidl

McLaren has had its "best start" to Formula 1 pre-season testing for years and plans to bring a batch of updates to Barcelona next week, says team principal Andreas Seidl

The team was seventh fastest in the order on combined times during the first three-day test at Barcelona, and concentrated more on reliability running - recording 423 laps, the fourth-highest total in the opening week.

Seidl said he was delighted by the way the first test went, especially because McLaren did not suffer any major mechanical problems.

"To be honest, we're really, really, really happy with how it went so far, for various reasons," he explained.

"First of all, if you look at the number of laps and the reliability we have shown so far, it is by far the best start for many, many years for McLaren going into a winter test.

"This is simply great reward and a sign for the entire team that all the hard work we have put in the last month in order to make this step is paying off, so I'm very happy about that.

"In terms of programme and test points, I'm also very happy that we could tick off a lot of boxes already of our job list.

"Without having these reliability [issues], we simply could go through the run plan every day as planned."

Although Carlos Sainz Jr's best lap of the week was 12th fastest overall, Seidl said the timesheets mattered little for the team so far.

"We focus on ourselves, we don't focus on lap times and so on," he said.

"We continuously bring parts to the car as well, with late deliveries back from the factory.

"It's great to see this momentum that we are having.

"[On Friday], we tried a new front wing for example in the morning. And so far the car is doing what we expect from it.

"So it's great to see this correlation. I'm very happy."

Seidl said there would be a push next week to bring more developments to the car as it prepares for the season opener in Australia next month.

"We have a programme lined up with continuously bringing parts to the track, also next week in order to get as much performance out of the car as possible before we head to Melbourne," he said.

"In terms of the performance, so far I think it's still early days. We're happy with what we have seen so far.

"The car was, as I said before, performing as intended, so we don't have question marks on this."

shares
comments

Russell: No way Williams will be as far off F1 rivals as last year

What we've learned from the first F1 test

How a lawyer-turned-journalist became a crucial player in Alfa's F1 revival

How a lawyer-turned-journalist became a crucial player in Alfa's F1 revival

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Qatar GP
GP Racing

How a lawyer-turned-journalist became a crucial player in Alfa's F1 revival How a lawyer-turned-journalist became a crucial player in Alfa's F1 revival

Why a Qatar sprint race coronation for Verstappen befits a dull 2023 F1 season

Why a Qatar sprint race coronation for Verstappen befits a dull 2023 F1 season

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Qatar GP
Matt Kew

Why a Qatar sprint race coronation for Verstappen befits a dull 2023 F1 season Why a Qatar sprint race coronation for Verstappen befits a dull 2023 F1 season

F1 folk: The 'lucky' engineer who guided Grosjean and helped build Haas

F1 folk: The 'lucky' engineer who guided Grosjean and helped build Haas

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Qatar GP
Oleg Karpov

F1 folk: The 'lucky' engineer who guided Grosjean and helped build Haas F1 folk: The 'lucky' engineer who guided Grosjean and helped build Haas

The salvation story behind Benetton's emergence as an F1 team

The salvation story behind Benetton's emergence as an F1 team

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Damien Smith

The salvation story behind Benetton's emergence as an F1 team The salvation story behind Benetton's emergence as an F1 team

Ranking the top 10 Benetton F1 drivers

Ranking the top 10 Benetton F1 drivers

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Damien Smith

Ranking the top 10 Benetton F1 drivers Ranking the top 10 Benetton F1 drivers

When Mansell and Senna settled their differences in an F1 pitlane scuffle

When Mansell and Senna settled their differences in an F1 pitlane scuffle

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Belgian GP
GP Racing

When Mansell and Senna settled their differences in an F1 pitlane scuffle When Mansell and Senna settled their differences in an F1 pitlane scuffle

The F1 treasure map where Hamilton hopes Mercedes hits gold

The F1 treasure map where Hamilton hopes Mercedes hits gold

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Jonathan Noble

The F1 treasure map where Hamilton hopes Mercedes hits gold The F1 treasure map where Hamilton hopes Mercedes hits gold

The two F1 rules problems Perez’s recent mishaps expose

The two F1 rules problems Perez’s recent mishaps expose

Plus
Plus
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Alex Kalinauckas

The two F1 rules problems Perez’s recent mishaps expose The two F1 rules problems Perez’s recent mishaps expose

Subscribe