McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says they is still a long way from catching the front-running teams despite their growing advantage in the constructors’ championship.

Carlos Sainz Jnr’s fifth place in the German Grand Prix moved the team past their total 2018 points haul. McLaren lies fourth in the constructors’ championship on 70, 28 points ahead of Toro Rosso and 31 clear of engine suppliers Renault, who have been their most consistent rivals this year.

However Seidl said the last race showed how easily the points situation could swing against them.

“It’s obviously good that we have all these points in the pocket with not necessarily having the fourth fastest car for all the races,” he said. “But at the same time it’s not something we get carried away with.

“We have seen, for example at the last race, you just need one crazy race where Nico [Hulkenberg], for example is scoring [second] and we have no points and we would have a different discussion today.

“It’s important for us to keep our heads down, to just keep pushing, to bring more and more updates on the track, and keep this positive journey up. But, of course, it’s nice to be in [fourth] at the moment and we try to fight for that until the end of the season.”

Seidl doesn’t see the team closing the gap to the top three front-runners in the near future.

“The reality is that we’re still getting lapped if there’s a normal race,” he said. “So there’s still a lot of hard work in front of us.

“But, as I said before, it’s important that we keep progressing as a team together with our drivers. It’s good to see that the updates are working and hopefully we can make the next step with our car, also for next year. This is really what my focus is on.

“There’s no magic, as we know, in Formula 1. It’s down to hard work, to stay focused, and this is what I try, together with the team.”

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2019 F1 season