McLaren ‘definitely do not have third or fourth quickest F1 car’ in P3 battle

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl is wary of a renewed threat from Ferrari in the fight for third place in the 2020 Formula 1 constructors’ world championship.

Ferrari scored its best result of the season so far at the Turkish Grand Prix by logging a 27-point haul with a third and fourth place finish, ahead of both McLaren’s as Carlos Sainz took fifth and Lando Norris came home eighth.

Heading into the final three races of the season, McLaren sits fourth in the championship standings, five points behind Racing Point. Renault lies a further 13 points back in fifth, with sixth-placed Ferrari now just 24 points away from P3.

“It was obviously great for us to score this result because it kept us in the fight in the constructors championship which is good,” said Seidl. “But we definitely do not have the third or fourth quickest car at the moment in this battle.

“And with what we have seen also from Ferrari, one more good result and suddenly the fight is between four teams for this third, fourth, fifth and sixth.”

Seidl admitted it was “just realistic” that Ferrari would eventually come back into the midfield fight despite its difficult campaign, given the huge resources it has available.

“I know what a team like Ferrari with all the resources they have can do and it’s not a surprise that they are coming back during the season,” Seidl added.

“We never underestimated the power that Ferrari has. They have two great drivers, also, and obviously a great team. So that’s the reality we’re in.

“It’s simply important to focus on ourselves, to see that we extract the maximum from what we can do with everything we have. We have a competitive car which is a great step forward compared to last year.

“But at the same time we have very strong competitors and we just hope we can keep this battle alive until the last race.”