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After adding just 10 points in the last races of the 2018 World Cup, Zak Brown , CEO of McLaren Racing, began working on the signing of Andreas Seidl , who would be confirmed as director of the F1 team in the early days of 2019. At the time , the Woking team was sailing in an ocean of doubts. The farewell to Fernando Alonso, unquestionable leader during the darkest times, multiplied the responsibility for Carlos Sainz , who from then on would share a garage with a 19-year-old rookie named Lando Norris . Two risky bets by Brown, also determined to renew the top of his technical organization chart with Gil de Ferran , James Key and Pat Fry. Yesterday, just a year and a half after all that, McLaren closed at the Red Bull Ring his first Sunday of 2020 as second place in the Constructors' World Championship, with 26 points, only behind Mercedes (37).

The success of papaya cars, with Norris's third and Sainz's fifth, exploded with a torrent of hugs in the garage that called into question the strict distancing measures. Lando's last three laps, at qualifying pace, were rounded off with an astonishing last turn (1: 07.475) that allowed him to overtake Lewis Hamilton, sanctioned with five seconds for an illegal move against Alexander Albon . “It is impressive that he was able to solve it like this. This shows that he has taken the next step as a pilot, "said Seidl, convinced that even better news will come in the future.

"I am speechless. There were times when I thought I had screwed her up. Hamilton took me 5.8 seconds and I lowered it to 4.8 », stammered the protagonist, with that gesture of his college student with acne. A few minutes later, at the FIA ​​press conference, something better could already be explained. “When I learned about the sanction against Hamilton, with three laps ahead, I pressed hard and had no traffic. I went to the limit, I took the risk, but luckily the car was fast ", admitted the driver who only needed 22 races to overcome the world champion hecamp until becoming, at 20 years, seven months and 22 days, the youngest Briton to step on a podium. Only Max Verstappen (GP of Spain 2016) and Lance Stroll (GP of Azerbaijan 2017) signed that feat at an earlier age.

Key and the MCL-35

So the massive perch of the boy with his mechanics, fists clenched high, seemed to justify so much previous work. Because this winter, before the pandemic turned the Great Circus upside down, Brown and Seidl opted to completely renovate a car that had already worked for them. The consistent MCL-34, with which they ranked fourth in the World Cup, gave way to an MCL-35 that involved much more than a simple design evolution.

Key took his risks to improve downforce, and the first results have been immediately apparent. The difficulties in the qualifying sessions, with an average deficit of 1.3 seconds over the head, gave way to Norris' fourth place on Saturday. And during the race the same constants noted in the second half of the 2019 World Cup were repeated.

Norris, with his trophy, on the podium of the Austrian GP.REUTERS

Minimizing mistakes and taking every opportunity, McLaren confirms itself as the most reliable team in the middle of the grid. Yesterday, during the first laps, Norris maintained the rhythm of Sergio Pérez, at the wheel of Racing Point, the so-called Mercedes Rosa. Sainz, meanwhile, was on the lookout for Charles Leclerc's Ferrari . So no one should be surprised if the immediate challenge is a heads-up with Scuderia for third place, only in the shadow of Mercedes and Red Bull. The last time McLaren flew that high, in 2012, he had Jenson Button and Hamilton at the wheel.

Rows 66 and 67

Of course, the current couple is full of talent and ambition, as could be seen in their epic hand to hand in Spielberg. «The podium has escaped in the fight with Lando. I almost overtook him, but he pushes me out a little bit and in the end I had to lift, "Sainz admitted, over the rifirrafes at Turn 5, with six laps to go before the checkered flag.

Just in case, Seidl intervened combining laughter with firmness. "Our philosophy is that they can run freely ... until they hit!" Joked the German. Brown, by then, had already removed his helmets and was running like a madman through the pit-lane . The troubled executive did not appear to have been able to close a deal with the Bahrain National Bank on Monday. A 150 million pound injection to save McLaren.

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