Andreas Seidl: “Final podium or not, 2021 will remain a great season”

Even if P3 in the Manufacturers' Championship must elude you, can we say that most of it has been done this year?

We will do everything in our power to get her, but whatever happens in the evening in Abu Dhabi (12 December. Editor's note), this is a big step forward that I will see when the time comes to look back at the 2021 financial year. Already, we have taken a new step forward with the car. The fact that we were able to significantly reduce the lap gap with Mercedes et Red Bull shows that we have done a good job. In terms of the team, we were also able to improve compared to the previous season. For me, it's important to see all this. Obviously, there were the strong points of Monza (victory of Ricciardo. Editor’s note) and Sochi (pole of Norris. Editor’s note). It's been so long since McLaren had no longer won in the Grand Prix. So there are plenty of positives to take away from this season which shows that we are moving in the right direction. It's a beautiful struggle that pits us against Ferrari, and if we take a look at the average points we were able to score per race this season, we see that P3 is much more difficult to acquire than last year. It has a whole different value, because at the end of the day, Ferrari is just getting back to where it belongs given its experience, its resources and its drivers. Concerning us, we still have quite a few deficits in terms of infrastructure and, despite everything, we are still struggling.