Addressing low-speed weakness a “high priority” for McLaren

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says addressing the low-speed weakness of its 2019 Formula 1 car is a “high priority” area for the Woking squad.

Despite strengthening its advantage over Renault in F1’s midfield fight after Carlos Sainz Jr took sixth place at the British Grand Prix, the Spaniard conceded McLaren is in need of making low-speed performance gains to remain ahead of its rivals.

While Seidl acknowleged the MCL34's deficiencies in low-speed, he stressed the team is working to improve all aspects of its 2019 challenger.

“We know that this is say one of our weak points we are having,” Seidl said after the race.

“That’s something we continuously address with the updates we are bringing, we also brought updates here.

“Of course, it’s high priority in addition to let’s say increased performances overall in all areas.”

Asked if McLaren can address the area without losing performance elsewhere, Seidl replied: “It always comes together and of course the target is to overall find performance.

“I think it’s a natural understanding of the car by each training, qualifying, race you are doing, working out let’s say the weak points and giving input into what is the development back home in order to address the weak points.

“And at the same time this goes parallel with the overall performance development, the gap is still huge to the front, it’s not just one specific area we are working on to improve.

“I won’t say it is something I am concerned about, it is a topic that we have to address in addition to many other topics that we have with the car or inside the team,” he added.

“The important thing is we keep learning about the current car and it is also important to get clear feedback from both of our drivers.

“We will try to address the issues and we will keep brining updates for the next races to address the weaknesses we have inside the car and again we are continuously making improvements in terms of performance, pace of the car, handling.

“But the competitors around us are doing to same so this is the battle we are in but it is nothing that worries me. It is the nature of the game we are in.”

McLaren currently occupies fourth spot in the constructors’ championship, leading engine suppliers Renault by 21 points heading into the German Grand Prix at the end of the month.