It was somewhat of a bittersweet French Grand Prix for McLaren, with the team celebrating Carlos Sainz’s impressive drive to sixth place while lamenting Lando Norris’ late-race fall from seventh to 10th (later to become ninth) at the hands of a hydraulic issue.

Despite that, freshly-installed Team Principal Andreas Seidl was in no doubt that the race performance – on top of a stunning qualifying that saw Norris and Sainz net fifth and sixth places on the grid respectively – had been the team’s finest so far in 2019.

“It’s been our best weekend of the season and it was encouraging to see our car performing well from the first practice session until the end of the race,” said Seidl. “This gives us good momentum to keep pushing flat out as the pendulum of performance swings between teams from circuit to circuit.

MUST-SEE: Watch Lando Norris's dramatic final lap in France in full

“Carlos and Lando both did a great job managing the tyres over the distance. It was unfortunate that Lando lost positions on the final lap but he and the engineers did very well to battle through the second half of the race after a hydraulic issue arose affecting gear shifting, braking and steering.”