McLaren driver Lando Norris experienced a Formula 1 Grand Prix of bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns in Montreal.
He started only 14th after there was a problem with the drive unit’s sensor in qualifying and the team was forced to use an older unit for the race at the expense of performance.
During the second virtual safety car phase, the team then brought Norris into the pits, where his teammate Daniel Ricciardo was being dispatched. Norris had to wait as the Australian had a slow stop due to a problem on the right front.
And then his own tires weren’t ready and he lost more valuable seconds before he could continue. The Brit finally finished 15th, while Ricciardo also missed out on the points in 11th. Both were asked to take care of their brakes in the closing stages.
Seidl sees a need to catch up on all levels
“Obviously a disappointing day for us, a very disappointing weekend for various reasons,” sums up team boss Andreas Seidl. “There were issues with reliability, an issue with race flow, but also in terms of pace and where we want to be.”
When asked what exactly happened at the pit stop, he says: “Obviously I don’t want to go into too much detail because that’s something we have to check internally as a team to see what went wrong.” Ultimately, there was a “communication problem within the team” that caused the delays.
When asked about the loss of pace in the final phase, Seidl concedes: “With both cars we had to manage a few parameters towards the end of the race, the brakes, and that’s why Daniel wasn’t able to keep up the pace and attack.”
Rivals in midfield are catching up
While McLaren is still fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, the team has only 19 points from the last five races and the rivals are catching up: Alpine have collected 35 points and Alfa Romeo 26 points over the period.
“If you look at the last two races, there is definitely a trend that we have fallen behind, especially compared to Alpine,” says McLaren team boss Seidl. “But some other cars have also improved a lot, like the Astons on Friday.” Lance Stroll finished tenth in the race.
“So it’s clear we need to improve in all areas: reliability, operations, performance to ensure we stay in contention for fourth place.” However, Seidl confirms that there will be no upgrades in the short term.
“Our idea is to continue learning about the car and to use this knowledge to get more out of the current package. So far, for various reasons, there are no plans for major upgrades, also to stay within the cost limit,” he emphasizes.
On the plus side, Seidl believes the power unit that was removed from Norris’ car before the race can be put back in the pool. “It was an issue with a sensor, which then caused a loss of power and a misfire, which is why we had to cancel Q2.”
“But we assume that the affected power unit can be repaired, and therefore there are currently no signs that we won’t be able to end the season with three power units,” the team boss can at least give the all-clear here.