McLaren team boss, Andreas Seidl has praised Daniel Ricciardo's performance in the United States Grand Prix, claiming it was superior to his win at Monza.

It was certainly an interesting afternoon for the Australian who was involved in a feisty three-way scrap with Carlos Sainz and his McLaren teammate on the opening lap, and subsequently had to fend off the Ferrari for much of the remainder of the afternoon.

"It was definitely a very strong weekend from Daniel," said Seidl. "I think it's fair to say it was, together with Monza, probably his strongest weekend with us – maybe even fair to say it was his best weekend with us so far on a track that has a lot of different corner types as well.

"I'm very happy with what he could pull off this weekend," he continued, "it was a great performance from his side today to keep Carlos behind the entire race and being under massive pressure."

"Carlos was putting pressure on me the entire race," said the Australian, "we actually had a really good battle the first lap. We went back and forth I think three times. I managed to get him and that set up my race and allowed me to fight for fifth so that was really important.

"And then a pretty good battle with him and let's say a strong defence," he continued, "which I needed to do to hold him off because I think realistically if he'd have got me, I'd have fallen back into Bottas and I think he probably would have had a much better chance of getting me as well so fifth could have quickly become seventh.

"I'm very happy to have got a top-five here in the great city of Austin, Texas," he grinned.

Indeed as they fought for position in the second half of the race, at one point they clashed, causing damage to the Ferrari which left Sainz not only unable to continue harrying Ricciardo but eventually left him defenceless when Bottas made his move.

"It's just another confirmation that since the summer break he continuously improved and felt more comfortable in the in the car, which is good," said Seidl.

"I think, and he's saying himself, I don't think he's fully comfortable yet with our car in any condition, or track layout, or situation," he added. "With him now getting more and more used to it, spending more and more time in our car, spending more and more time doing laps, I think it's just natural that there is still a lot more to come from his side, which is obviously encouraging.

"But at the same time, it was a great weekend from his side here in Austin, and a very strong drive to the end in the race where he showed why we wanted to get him onboard and get him to McLaren."

In terms of the battle with Ferrari for 'best of the rest', Seidl said: "We need to be absolutely happy with the outcome of today's race because I think we have maximised everything that was possible for us today, or even more. We finished ahead of one Ferrari while both Ferraris have been clearly quicker all weekend than us, so that's an achievement.

"To keep Valtteri behind in the race is also something which we wouldn't necessarily expect," he admitted. "So based on that, accepting the reality that Ferrari was simply a lot quicker this weekend than us, it was a well-handled race by the team, by both drivers, and we achieved what was on the cards for us today."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 27/10/2021 0:17

"Yes, sometimes Bottas appears to suffer however on a greater scale DRS trains are almost impossible to escape from plus track difficulty. The GOAT also has problems at times eg 6 laps stuck behind Tsnunoda!!! I also think that by now Bottas is totally fed up with being made the 'donkey' given all the test engines and subsequent penalties for same. As he most subtly stated recently that they haven't found any 'problems'!! Work it all out."

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2. Posted by Great_white_shark, 26/10/2021 17:56

""To keep Valtteri behind in the race is also something which we wouldn't necessarily expect"

Are we talking about the same Valtteri? Because the one I know has always struggled to overtake much slower cars and he was stuck outside of the points for most of the race after starting at the back in Russia while Max made quick work of him and everyone else"

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3. Posted by kenji, 25/10/2021 12:09

"Those comments from Seidl are extremely meaningful. He is an extremely clever man and the fact that he took Porsche to the very top under his control says a great deal. He and Zak Brown make up a very good team and I'm hopeful that the longer they preside the greater the team will be. If Daniel can recapture his mojo in this most difficult of cars then he will be an even great asset for McLarens future. "

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Seidl praises Ricciardo's COTA performance

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