Seidl: Good chemistry 'important' between team mates

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McLaren's new team principal Andreas Seidl says that it's important that the squad's two drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris have good chemistry and work well together.

He said that it was a key part of the team's success in 2019, which has seen its fortunes revive after several years in the doldrums.

"Our drivers get on well and they have fun, both of which are important," Seidl told the McLaren F1 website this week.

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"They understand that it’s not about the competition between them at the moment," he explained. "It’s about making sure they push each other in order to lift their overall game, and at the same time help us to improve as a team.

"They’ve integrated excellently within the team," he added. "They’ve proven to be very approachable and open-minded.

"That’s also why we confirmed them so early for 2020. It was important to have clarity inside the team, which allows us to focus on our core job, which is to become an even better team and deliver a quicker race car."

Seidl also spoke about the individual qualities that the pair brought to the team's campaign to finish 'best of the rest' in the constructors championship this year,

"Carlos’s technical ability has been impressive from the start," he commented. "He has very clear feedback and he provides excellent direction in terms of development.

"Combine that with his qualifying pace, his ability as a racer and his positivity, and you have a driver who’s a great asset to the team.

"I should add that he also did a very good job over the winter working on the correlation between the simulator and the racetrack."

As for Norris, Seidl was impressed with the way that the 19-year-old had taken to his first season in F1.

"This might be his rookie season, but Lando has never had a problem dealing with the pressure of the race weekends from his first grand prix onwards," he said.

"I was incredibly impressed with how he got into Q3 in his first qualifying session in Melbourne - and he has also shown that this wasn’t just a one-off.

"He also took the right approach, for example, when it came to his first few race starts within the midfield, where he made sure he stayed out of trouble especially on the first lap.

"He has since built up the confidence he’s now showing with excellent race starts and first laps, followed by great races," Seidl added.

"It’s simply impressive how these young guys are managing so much and pulling it off with great maturity."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.