McLaren is looking to secure fourth place in the constructors' championship before it fully commits to the 2020 season.
The Woking squad currently sits 38 points ahead of Renault and is on course to score its highest constructors' standings finish in the turbo hybrid era.
Although its gap over Renault is unlikely to be diminished with just two rounds remaining in the championship, the team is holding out until it has the position for certain before it turns its focus onto next season.
“After a weekend away from racing, it’s good to be heading back to the track for what we hope will be an exciting grand prix," said team principal Andreas Seidl.
"As we come to the close of the season, our focus as a race team is on securing the fourth-place constructors’ spot, before fully switching our attention to 2020."
Seidl added that the team gathered strong information at the last two rounds which it believes will help it this weekend in Sao Paulo.
“We gathered a lot of information in Mexico and the US, which has been important in our preparation for Brazil," he said.
"Interlagos is another high-altitude track, and although it is not as extreme as Mexico City, we still must ensure we’re doing all we can to adjust the car to these conditions and the complex track layout.”
Driver Lando Norris added: “There’s still work to be done and we’ll be pushing hard in every session to see how close we can get to the top teams. They’re still a long way off and our nearest rivals are very close but I’m looking forward to some good racing."
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Replies (2)
Login to replyRam Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Should be a good fight to watch. It's very nice to see McLaren coming back strong.
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
Totally agree - it's amazing how a couple of wrong turns can hit a team for so long - just look at Honda - they are performing free from McLaren - it can only be small things that are making the difference and pinning it all together in a race weekend is clearly much harder than it seems.