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McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl spoke of how the team's main concern coming into the recent United States Grand Prix was to come back to score points after failing with both cars in the previous round in Mexico.
Both cars failed to score in Mexico when Carlos Sainz managed a poor thirteenth place finish, while Lando Norris eventually retired after being released with a loose front wheel after his first pitstop.
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However the team managed to come back in Austin and finish in the points, Norris leading Sainz home in seventh and eighth positions.
"Obviously what was the main thing for us this weekend was bouncing back after a very difficult Sunday in Mexico," Seidl commented. "I am happy with the outcome that we could score ten points, and have a solid race weekend.
"A positive for me was the qualifying performance we have shown, because like in qualifying now it looks like we could make a good step compared to the other cars in the midfield.
"Race starts again were great for both cars. I think Carlos was unlucky and it could have worked out. With Leclerc and Albon coming together and pushing him out it obviously compromised his race."
Race pace improvement now main focus for McLaren
Despite being happy with the overall performance from the team in Austin last weekend, Seidl admits that the main focus must now go to improving in race pace and strategies, as both cars were beaten to the line by Renault's Daniel Ricciardo in sixth.
"What we have to work on is making the step in race pace," Seidl added. "Not just the qualifying pace because Ricciardo was just a tiny bit quicker than us today in the race.
"In terms of the race, it was not an easy race in terms of getting the strategy right as we had predicted from previous races.
"Just somewhere between a one-stop and a two-stop and with Lando we made the decision after him using the tyres more behind Ricciardo, we split strategies and boxed Lando for the mediums."
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