McLaren: For sure Mansour would have enjoyed today

Perhaps inspired by Ojjeh's family at Paul Ricard Circuit for the occasion, or simply because McLaren are firmly the Best of the Rest in this year's Formula 1 World Championship as evidenced by fifth and sixth place for Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo respectively.

With it entrenching themselves third in the constructors' points table on a day their top of the midfield rivals Ferrari failed to score a point.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl explained what the result meant for his team: "This was another strong Sunday afternoon for our team, thanks to two strong drivers, a strong car in race trim and perfect race execution from the entire team.

"Thanks to everyone here at the track, back home in the factory and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP, all of whom contributed to this result. Our battle in the Constructors’ Championship is very tight and finishing P5, P6 gives us very important points as that fight progresses. Part one of the triple-header is complete and now we’re looking forward to heading to Austria.

“Finally, we were racing this weekend in memory of Mansour Ojjeh, with a special livery on the car in his honour. It was a privilege to have Mansour’s family with us this weekend. I’m sure he would have enjoyed today’s performance.”

Top performer for them was Norris who gets better with every outing, this time his feisty fifth place a testament to his growing stature in the top flight.

The 21-year-old-said: “Obviously I’m really happy. I wasn’t really expecting a P5 coming into today, even with a perfect race. I just didn't think we would have the pace that we did. It was tricky with the tyre management but a lot better than we hoped, which is always good news.

"A good one for us as a team, a fifth and a sixth, one of the best team results this season. Overall a fun race. Hopefully, we can continue this into the next few races," added Norris.

While unable to beat his teammate, Ricciardo had a better weekend relative to some of his shabbier previous races, in France, turning 10th on the grid into sixth place and handy double points haul for the Woking outfit.

The Australian reported afterwards: “Definitely a positive Sunday. I think it was the race we were hoping for but not the one we expected. I don’t think we expected our closest competitor to score no points, and for us to be the best of the midfield with both cars.

"That was our dream race and we managed to pull it off. I’m really happy with the race, although if I’m honest, I wasn’t totally happy with the car. I was struggling from the laps to grid and then for the whole race. But it felt like everyone else, besides Lando, was struggling more.

"It was a fun race and I’m happy we brought it home in fifth and sixth for the team today. It’s about time we got back in these positions, so it was a positive day," affirmed Ricciardo.

Norris is now fourth in the 2021 F1 championship standings on 74 points, with Ricciardo ninth on 34 points after seven rounds.