McLaren Formula 1 boss Andreas Seidl urged his team to continue the “positive momentum” at the launch of their new car on Thursday.
The British team dominated the midfield for much of 2019, claiming fourth in the Constructors’ standings and finishing 54 points clear of fifth-placed Renault.
Given the gap to the top three teams, repeating that result is McLaren’s main target for 2020 but Seidl doesn’t want the team to stand still.
“It feels simply great to be a part of this McLaren team today, standing next to our MCL35, thanks to the team for getting this baby on stage today,” he told the assembled media and guests at the launch.
“[I’m] very happy with the progress we could make [last year], we simply kept improving race by race.
“We have a clear plan in place about how we want to approach the future and now it is important to keep this positive momentum up and keep improving as a team.”
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Indeed, while McLaren has eyes on closing up to the front of the grid, their German boss is also aware of those improving behind.
“I think it is important not to get carried away with what we achieved last year, which was great,” Seidl continued.
“This year is a reset, back to zero again for every team in the pit lane and everyone is having the same ambitious targets and working as hard as we do.
“We must just focus on ourselves. I am very happy with what I have seen in terms of development of the car over the winter.
“We can be quite optimistic going into the new season but at the same time must be realistic as well.”
And like everyone else, the first indications on where McLaren stand will emerge when pre-season testing kicks off in Barcelona on February 19.
“We are all racers, I’m a racing guy so I’m looking forward to going on track again,” Seidl added.
“Testing is even more restricted to it is important to get decent mileage under the belt.
“We have done our homework over the winter, so I feel ready together with the team to tackle the season.
“Time to go again.”