Seidl tells nevous Norris to 'do the same as you always do'

McLaren F1 boss Andreas Seidl has urged Lando Norris not to be overly cautious at the start of Sunday's historic title decider in Abu Dhabi.

Norris, who qualified an impressive third on Saturday at Yas Marina, will line up just behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on this evening's grid.

But the young McLaren charger admitted to feeling "nervous" about being so close to F1's title contenders amid the congestion of the launch off the grid and the race's opening lap.

"I kind of want to just stay where I am and just watch everything unfold over the first few laps, or even the whole race!" he said on Saturday.

• Read also: Norris admits to 'nerves' over proximity to title battle

But Seidl disagrees and wants his driver to manage his opening lap as he would – or indeed has – at any other race, insisting he would be ill-advised to play it too safe.

"I think whenever you are in such situations, the most important thing is to just do the same as you always do," Seidl said.

"If you try to be too cautious, for example, going into the first corners, or you try to orchestrate something, you take this intuitive feeling that the drivers are having - or the experience they are having - away from them, then it starts to get dangerous."

Given its 38.5 points deficit to Ferrari in the Constructors' standings, McLaren is resigned to finishing fifth in the championship.

But Norris can still snatch P5 in the Drivers' standings as he stands four points behind Charles Leclerc and 4.5 points ahead of Carlos Sainz.

"In the end, the objective is clear that we want to score another good result for us as a team, and we want to get back in P5 in the Drivers' Championship with Lando," added Seidl.

"In order to do that, we need a good result, and that's how we approach it."

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