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Amidst McLaren's battle against Alpine for P4 in the World Constructors' Championship, team principal Andreas Seidl revealed that the team is not bothered by the prospect of Fernando Alonso facing a penalty in the upcoming race in Brazil.
The Spaniard suffered a DNF last weekend after a cylinder failure in his Alpine. This could potentially mean that he would have to take a penalty at Interlagos if a solution is not found.
As reported by Motorsport-Total, Seidl insisted that McLaren choose to focus on themselves only. Seidl said:
"To be honest, it doesn’t change anything for us. The battle we are having with Alpine is very close and very tight. If you look at the last six races, we were ahead four times, twice they were ahead in qualifying and in the races. It goes back and forth depending on the circumstances, and reliability also plays an important role."
He continued:
"The most important thing is that we just focus on ourselves. We need to make sure we have clean race weekends and use the car, the team and the two drivers, to get points. Hopefully that will be enough to be ahead of Alpine in the final round of Abu Dhabi. That’s what we’re focused on."
Currently, a mere seven points is what separates the two teams in the constructors' standings. McLaren will want to cover up these seven points and go above Alpine in the championship standings.
McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo optimistic about time away from the grid
McLaren confirmed earlier this year that Daniel Ricciardo will be parting ways with the Woking-based team at the end of the 2022 season.
The Australian is confident that he will not be racing full-time for a team in F1 next year but is looking forward to having some time away to reflect and rejuvinate.
As reported by The Guardian, the McLaren driver said:
"I can confidently say I won’t be on the grid behind a wheel. But I still want to be in the sport, I want to be working with a team, still with the ambition to be back on the grid in [20]24. That said, it’s honestly where my head’s at as well. I feel like a bit of time away from a race seat will actually do me good and then try to rebuild on something for ’24. Let’s say I’m not done, but it’ll look a bit different."
Ricciardo emphasized that he will use this time to gain perspective and start afresh mentally. He further said:
"No doubt the last two years have been quite hard, especially when you put a lot in and when it doesn’t come back, it can get you down. As well, I know the value of having even like a summer break, I know stepping away just gives you a different perspective."
He continued:
"The way the seasons are, it’s pretty relentless, you don’t really get a chance to rebuild. Everyone’s different but I truly believe that will be, in a way, a blessing in disguise for me. By doing less, I’ll achieve more."
While McLaren continue their fight for P4 in the World Constructors' Championship, Daniel Ricciardo currently stands 12th in the World Drivers' Championship.
