Abiteboul: “McLaren is almost at our level”

The nice result of McLaren signed last weekend at the French GP and the penalty of Daniel Ricciardo relegating him out of the points has further strengthened the duel taking place Renault and McLaren for 4th place. The Woking team, which operates with the Losange Power Units, now occupies the coveted position with an 8-point lead over the French structure.

“We had a meeting on Sunday morning and they themselves were a little surprised by their level of performance. The results are therefore reserved, not mixed, indicated the director of the French team after the national event. We do a pretty solid job. We will fight against McLaren all season and that is completely honorable. I haven't mastered what they do, but they are about at our level. It will be interesting to observe the trend depending on the circuits. The goal is to be consistent. »

The winner of this mid-pack duel will certainly be the one whose evolutions are the most convincing.

“The engine delivers as expected. On the aero side, it’s always complicated to evaluate. Some things worked, but others were delayed because further development was needed. McLaren hasn't really evolved its car unlike us. We were significantly faster than them in Canada. We were much slower in qualifying (for the French GP), but the level was roughly the same in the race.”, specified Cyril Abiteboul.

Discover the analysis of the French GP carried out by our special correspondents in AUTO issue 2222hebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms and on newsstands.