McLaren F1 team cannot underestimate Ferrari “strike back”

McLaren boss Andreas Seidl insists his team cannot afford to underestimate Ferrari’s ability to “strike back” during the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Ferrari is enduring a woeful campaign as it struggles for competitiveness this year, with the Italian outfit slipping to fifth place in the constructors’ standings, two places and seven points behind McLaren.

The Scuderia is once again expected to struggle at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza due to its straight-line speed deficit, but Seidl is wary about ruling Ferrari out of the equation in the championship scrap.

"I expect to be close again to the Racing Points and the Renaults," Seidl said.

"Everything we can see here at the moment and take away from here, and also reading the comments from Ferrari, they may struggle there as well.

"So hopefully once again it is an opportunity to score more points than we did here.

"That gives us another good opportunity to score good points compared to some of the competitors that will be stronger again at other tracks.

"Something important and we never do [is] we cannot underestimate the ability of Ferrari to strike back during the course of the season because of their experience, the manpower, and the infrastructure.

"I am sure it is only a matter of time before they will strike back again as well. That's why it hurts even more that we didn't collect even more points [at Spa]."

A P7 for Lando Norris lifted McLaren back up to third place in the standings as it leapfrogged ahead of Racing Point, with Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez only able to finish ninth and 10th.

With McLaren just two point clear of the Silverstone outfit, Seidl believes “perfect execution” will ultimately decide which teams wins out in the fight over P3 in the constructors’ this season.

"We still do not have enough samples [to say if we're third-quickest]" he explained. "I still think that the Racing Point is definitely the third-strongest car in the field.

"Then there's a very tight battle in the ranking between the Ferraris, us and the Renaults, I would say.

"Then in the end, it comes down to maximising your weekends, making sure you get the perfect laps in Q3, making sure you have the perfect execution on the race Sunday, perfect reliability.

"I think that in the end will decide to championship we are in."