"There might be a chance to beat one or two of them" - McLaren chief confident of outperforming 'struggling' Mercedes at 2022 F1 French GP

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl believes his team has a chance to beat one or even both of the Mercedes cars in the 2022 F1 French GP.

Mercedes looked certain to qualify in P4 and P5 with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, respectively, at Le Castellet (Circuit Paul Ricard). That was before Lando Norris stitched together a storming lap to split the the two Silver Arrows. He will now start the race in P5, sandwiched between his compatriots.

Andreas Seidl was elated with the showing from Norris in Q3 and let his feelings be known during a post- session interview with Sky Sports F1. The German said:

“Really happy with the outcome of qualifying today, and the entire team back home has put in so much energy to bring these upgrades to the track. We could see already yesterday that it was looking positive and that we have taken a step, and again overnight we took a step with the drivers extracting the max from the package.’’

With Norris in P5 and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo starting in P9, McLaren feel the race between them and engine supplier Mercedes is on for Sunday. Seidl went on to add:

“Now we need to see how it looks over the long run, but starting P5 and P9 is good. What we have seen in Free Practice is Mercedes struggling a bit, so we went into qualifying thinking that there might be a chance to beat one or two of them.’’

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McLaren boss confident that no F1 team will end the season 'prematurely'

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is confident that no F1 team will end the season prematurely due to constraints in the sports cost cap for the 2022 season.

The Woking-based team had earlier confirmed they had halted the development of the McLaren MCL36 after concerns about going over the predetermined $140 million budget cap set before the start of the campaign.

Despite some teams asking F1 and the FIA to amend the cost cap in light of the rising cost of inflation in the world, the cap remains where it is.

Speaking in an interview with German broadcaster n-tv during the 2022 F1 British GP weekend, the American said:

“We’re all going to race because there are contracts that oblige us to do so. We have sponsors who expect that. I can’t imagine a scenario where a team ends the season prematurely. I don’t believe that for a second, it’s just empty threats.”

The FIA has since increased the budget for all teambs by 3.1% to try and combat the rising costs brought about by global inflation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Heading into the 2022 F1 French GP, McLaren are fourth in the World Constructors' Championship standings with 81 points and one podium after 11 rounds of racing.