Belgian GP: Qualifying team notes - McLaren

27/08/2022
NEWS STORY

Lando Norris: "I think I'm reasonably happy with today and we got the maximum we could actually achieve. Of course, we weren't going for outright position, and maybe we could have got P7 if we had used a set of new tyres, which would have been a little bit nicer, but we had to make sure we were in the best place strategy-wise for tomorrow. We're still not where we want to be on pure pace, so hopefully tomorrow we can change a couple of things and try to move forwards and get into the points. It's going to be a long race, but you never know. Overall, we're in a good place so we'll try our best."

Daniel Ricciardo: "It's a little bit disappointing to be so close to Q3 and there were a couple of little things which cost us, but it is what it is. I think we did relatively well. This morning, we had to change specification of wing, so that was not as planned, but I still think we did quite well with that considered.

"For tomorrow, I'm not really sure how it will play out. Obviously, we will gain some positions due to penalties so we will start seventh, so that's good. I think Albon is certainly a target, even if he's been quick all weekend, and then there are some quicker guys coming back through, but I think that we should try to hold on as long as we can. I think if we put in a good first stint and try to distance ourselves, that buys us a bit of time later in the race.

"Overall, relatively pleased with the performance of the car. Just another one where we missed that little bit. So, we'll keep at it and look forward to going racing tomorrow. It's been a busy week, so, I'm just looking forward to watching the lights go out and getting on with the 44 laps!"

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "After qualifying today and once all the grid penalties are applied, we'll be starting the race in P7 with Daniel and P18 for Lando. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get into Q3 with Daniel. On Lando's side we decided not to use the set of new soft tyres in Q3, knowing about the penalty and to save them for the race tomorrow. Given the circumstances we have made certain choices for today's qualifying which will hopefully benefit us in tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix. Our full focus is now on that. The aim is to fight for points with both cars. The mixed-up grid will hopefully give us a very exciting race which we can look forward to."

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Published: 27/08/2022
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