McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl feels that, at the Turkish Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz showed why Ferrari decided to snap him up.
The Spaniard, who is joining the Italian team at the end of the season, finished in P5 at Istanbul Park, just behind Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.
It was one of many impressive drives he has put in in 2020, and his boss says that his performance shows just why he was chosen to replace Vettel.
“A race like [Turkey] just confirmed the quality Carlos has,” said Seidl as per Motorsport.com.
“We know from previous races in the last years that he likes all of these tricky conditions, he likes these wet or mixed conditions, we know that he is performing well in these conditions and that he has this talent to take the right approach in terms of risk.
“And he manages to keep the car on track while still making progress on track and making the moves stick like he did today. And it’s simply a big benefit.
“Also [it helps] if you have a driver that works for some time already with his engineer, and his engineering team because, in conditions like today, you have a lot of communication ongoing between driver and the pit wall.
“And there you see also the experience Carlos has, because it’s important then to stay brief on the radio, but also clear of what’s going on out there at the track, so that we can match this with the data we see on the pit wall, and that in the end makes them make the right decisions at the right time.
“He’s a great driver. There’s a reason why Ferrari went after him for next year. So I’m really looking forward to the last three races with him in our team, and then hopefully we beat him next year!”
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The other McLaren of Lando Norris wasn’t quite as strong in Turkey but still managed to score multiple points, coming home in P8.
Given the Brit was last early on, Seidl is pleased with the recovery effort.
“On Lando’s side, seeing the pace he could show in the race was obviously disappointing that he was pretty much last I think after the start,” he added.
“I think he had an anti-stall on the grid because it was simply so difficult to launch a car from these low grip conditions. He was unfortunately on the bad side of the grid.
“So that obviously compromised then the rest of his race, but also there, with the performance he has shown, I’m very happy.
“It confirmed again, also, the quality Lando has, especially in these tricky conditions. And it was great to see how he recovered from last position to P8.”
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