British Grand Prix – McLaren have ended any mid-season speculation surrounding their 2020 driver line-up by confirming Lando Norris & Carlos Sainz for next year.
McLaren, heading to their home race at Silverstone this weekend, have taken themselves out of any ‘if, buts or maybes’ scenarios regarding their drivers and have confirmed both Lando Norris & Carlos Sainz will stay with the team in 2020.
Both were new signings to the team in 2019, with Lando Norris stepping up from Formula 2 and Carlos Sainz moving from the Renault team. Both have settled in well with strong results as McLaren are the most competitive they’ve been for half a decade with consistent points finishes in the opening half of this year.
“Today’s announcement provides the team with the continuity to keep pushing forward.” said Andreas Seidl, McLaren’s Team Principal and himself a new signing having only formally started work with the team in May.
“The performance of both Carlos and Lando have been a key part of the team’s progress. Their feedback has enabled our engineers to develop the MCL34 and look ahead to the MCL35. Carlos has played a key role in developing the car using his experience, while Lando has got up to speed with the demands of Formula 1 incredibly quickly and is growing in confidence every weekend. This is welcome news for the whole McLaren team and we look forward to continuing our partnership together.”
The announcement at this point of the season quells any possible rumours of a possible Fernando Alonso comeback. Reports had emerged that the Alonso/McLaren working relationship had ended last week, which McLaren quickly refuted. There had been suggestions that Alonso could have sought a return to a race cockpit as a result of the team’s uptick of performance but this early announcement is possibly an attempt to pre-empt those rumours destabilising the team or current drivers.
“I’m delighted we’re able to announce our 2020 driver line-up ahead of the team’s home race at the British Grand Prix this weekend.” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren. Both Carlos and Lando are proving themselves as racers and are integral to our path to recovery. They have made a real contribution to the positive momentum and morale within the team, both at the track and back at the factory. The reception they’ve received from our fans has been outstanding and they are superb ambassadors for the McLaren brand.”
