Andreas Seidl, McLaren’s F1 team representative, looks back on the final race of the 2022 F1 opening round Bahrain Grand Prix.
If the breakthroughs of the Haas F1 Team and Alfa Romeo F1 Team, which were competing for the bottom last year, were the better surprises of the 2022 season, McLaren’s struggle, which was fourth in the ranking last year, was the worse surprise.
McLaren, who was at the top of the timesheet on the first day of the first pre-season test, the F1 Barcelona test, suddenly deteriorated in the second Bahrain test. The McLaren MCL36, which had a problem with cooling the front brakes, might not make a decent long run and was forced to manufacture parts to solve the problem. The slapstick also trailed on the race weekend.
In qualifying, Danieli Ricardo was eliminated in Q1 and 18th, Lando Norris was eliminated in Q2 and 13th, and McLaren was not in Q3. And even in the final, he was not involved in the point battle, and Daniel Ricciardo finished in 14th place and Lando Norris in 15th place.
“As we expected following a difficult Friday and Saturday in Bahrain, today’s Grand Prix was a continuation of the problems we are currently facing. We need to manage many parameters throughout the race, thereby competing. I mightn’t show my strength, “commented Andreas Seidl.
“I am grateful to Rand and Daniel who fought hard throughout the weekend with the Bahrain and Walking teams here. They did a huge amount of work.”
“This was a disappointing and painful experience for everyone on the team, and of course for all the great fans. Now we are analyzing in detail why we are not competitive and as soon as possible in the car We are working hard to improve performance. “
“In the meantime, I hope that all the learning from today’s race, which was the first full race distance in this car, will help us prepare for the next weekend and be in a better position.”
Daniel Ricciardo, who was infected with the new Corona Willis last week and mightn’t test for three days, said, “It may sound very simple, but today’s primary goal is to run a race distance and build knowledge of the car. It was to do. “
“It was good for me, especially following last week, to be able to incorporate that kind of fitness. We tried all three tire compands and we have a lot of feedback. Our weaknesses in the race are It’s pretty clear where it is, I understand it and work on it. I think I had some strengths in some corners, so I’ll give the team as much feedback as possible. “
“Of course we knew it would be a tricky day, but we had to take both cars home and have a lot to see. We’re looking at a completely different truck in Saudi Arabia and seeing what it brings. Take out “
“It’s not what we wanted,” Lando Norris said.
“It was a very tough race. We are far from where we want and we have to work on every area we can and do to get the most out of every race.”
“I’ve done my best today, but it’s not enough at this point. I’ll look at all the data from today’s race to see how I can improve for Saudi Arabia and where I need to improve throughout the season. Let’s take a look. Next week, we will do our best to get the most out of the status quo. “
Category: Category: F1 / McLaren / F1 Bahrain GP
