2019 Belgian GP – Mclaren

2019 Belgian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz #55

Finished DNF (1 lap – power loss)

Fastest lap N/A

Pit-stops 1: lap 1 (N/A) [Soft/Medium]

“Obviously a disappointing grand prix, not being able to race. We definitely need to look into what happened today. It’s obviously not very good news if you cannot even start a race. So nothing to say. A shame also about Lando’s retirement on the last lap that prevented us from getting another 10 points in the championship, which would’ve been a very big step in the right direction. I’m sorry for the whole team. I don’t think we deserve these two DNFs. At least the pace of the car showed today that there was a lot more to grab than single points. We move on.

“What happened yesterday puts everything into perspective. It was the toughest reminder that motorsport is extremely dangerous and everyone needs to be aware of the inevitable risks it involves. Our whole community is going through a very tough and emotional moment and all my thoughts go out to Anthoine’s whole family and his friends. We will always carry his memory wherever we race. It is the best tribute we can pay to our fellow driver. Rest in peace.”

Lando Norris #4

Finished DNF (classified 11^th, 43 laps – power loss)

Fastest lap 1m48.321s on lap 21 (+2.175s, 10th)

Pit-stops 1: lap 19 (2.58s) [Soft/Medium]

“First of all, my thoughts today are with Anthoine’s family and friends. My deepest condolences to them.

“With my race, it wasn’t boring. It was still fun and exciting. We had an extremely good start, the launch was very good and in Turn One we managed to pass six cars in one go and get into fifth. We controlled it from there.

“I think we have some positives to look at. Everyone in the team did such a good job and losing the engine on the last lap was tough. We have to move on from this and get ready for Monza.”

Andreas Seidl
Team Principal

“The negatives are two DNFs. Two technical failures. This, obviously, is very disappointing. We need to wait until we have the cars back in the garage to begin a thorough analysis, together with our colleagues from Renault, to understand in detail what happened. We lost a great opportunity to score good points today – but we have to put this behind us and look forward to Monza.

“The last word should of course go to Anthoine and his memory. It is never easy to accept such a loss. This has been a difficult 24 hours for the motorsport family and all of us at McLaren send our heartfelt sympathies to Anthoine’s family, friends and colleagues, and our best wishes to Juan-Manuel for his recovery.”