Sainz: McLaren has come a long way under Seidl

What they say

Seidl joined McLaren partway through the 2019 season, following the end of the Porsche LMP1-H programme that he previously headed. Sainz said McLaren have made a significant step forward since then:

I feel Andreas has done a very good job for McLaren, you only need to see the results and how far this team has come forward in the last 16 months that he’s been working with us.

So I don’t have anything other than good words for Andreas, a lot of admiration. I actually learnt quite a lot from him over the last few months and learnt about his style of leadership.

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Turkey was the last race of the season for our baby motorhome 💔

Who wants to take a look around before we say goodbye… 👀 pic.twitter.com/edadJ7J60t

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 24, 2020

• Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory

Links

More motor racing links of interest:

Formula E to electrify Saudi streets with Diriyah night race (Formula E)

"Lighting the track with the latest low consumption LED technology will reduce energy consumption by up to fifty per cent compared to non-LED technologies. The remaining energy needed to power the floodlighting will be fully renewable provided by high performing low-carbon certified hydrogenated vegetable oil made from sustainable materials."

Tom Blomqvist joins NIO for the 2021 Formula E world championship (Mark Blundell Partners)

"Returning to the Formula E championship; Tom participated in six races of the 2017/18 season for BMW Andretti and in the final two rounds of the 2019/20 season in Berlin for the Jaguar FE Team. Tom joins NIO 333, a Formula E team that has participated (under different ownerships) in the FIA Formula E Championship since its inception and won the inaugural drivers' championship title as Team China Racing in 2015."

Lewis Hamilton: Andy Murray says F1 champion deserves knighthood (BBC)

"He supports some great causes as well away from the racing track, so yes I would say he definitely deserves it in terms of his success."

‘Every year I write down where I’m not great’ – Hamilton on his journey from boxing ring to F1 record breaker (Formula 1)

"It’s a lot of studying, I’ve done more this year than I would have done last year. I never understood that when I was younger, I’d just arrive and drive. The amount of homework I do in the background is probably the reason you see the results that I get today."

The run in: Assessing Callum Ilott's chances (Formula 2)

"Ilott has an extremely strong record over the course of the season, finishing outside of the points just four times across the 10 rounds so far – a significant improvement on his 2019 campaign, when he missed out 10 times."

Bahrain Grand Prix Preview (Haas)

"I think it’s one of those things – it was a one-off. You just deal with it. The organizers there tried to do their best, I wouldn’t put any blame on them, they had everything working against them. Apparently when they resurfaced the track it rained, so they couldn’t run cars. A lot of things happened which were not planned for. The same happened at the weekend."

From frustration to success (W Series)

"Apart from one day in a kart when one of my old mechanics asked me to help with some coaching, I have not been in a racing car since March. Having such a big gap is not good for a driver and feeling like I have lost a year is frustrating."

Part one - 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring (IMSA)

Part two - 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring (IMSA)

We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.

Comment of the day

2020’s been a funny old year for the F1 calendar – with some really novel circuits coming up, like the Bahrain Outer track. Without the obvious constraints of coronavirus, could a really creative F1 calendar get, well, a bit weird without having to resort to format changes like reverse grids? Red Andy theorises:

I’m looking forward to this race. The disrupted season has given F1 some latitude to try a few things out on an experimental basis (did anyone think we’d ever see a sub-60 second lap in an F1 car before this season?), and in some ways it’s a shame more hasn’t been made of it.

The teams (sensibly in my view) blocked the proposal to turn some weekends into a two-part reverse grid race, but there are other things that could have been done to mix things up a little. For example, would the owners of Lausitz have let F1 run on their tri-oval? Could we have seen one of the alternative configurations run at Silverstone for the second race?

Maybe they could have varied the tyre rules on occasion – for example one weekend where Pirelli brought all five tyre compounds, let the teams choose which ones they ran and scrapped the mandatory tyre change. Or repurposed DRS so each driver had a limited number of uses throughout the race, similar to ‘push-to-pass’ concepts in other series.

It’s hard to criticise the organisers when they have done so much to put a calendar together, but in some respects it feels like opportunities have been missed.
Red Andy

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Matt Aitch, Sozavele and Swapnil Aman!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

• 30 years ago today Michael Schumacher won the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix following a controversial collision with rival Mika Hakkinen