Lando Norris was pleasantly surprised by the race pace of McLaren in F1 Austrian GP but is still wary of the competition around.
McLaren brought big chunk of updates in F1 Austrian GP on the car of Norris, with Oscar Piastri to get them in this weekend’s British GP. Considering it was a sprint weekend and the weather being tricky, it wasn’t hugely ideal to test them out.
Also, the Red Bull Ring circuit has been a happy hunting ground for both McLaren and Norris in the past. But despite that advantage, the pace in general felt good all-through the weekend with the only blip coming in F1 sprint race when the Brit dropped places.
An anti-stall moment caused it and it left Norris in a big fight. But the grand prix was a different animal. Even though he lost to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the start, the Brit stayed on his tail and got past him to be fourth for major part of the race.
They both lost to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez but a post-race penalty to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz meant Norris secured his best result of 2023 in fourth. “A very good day for us, honestly,” he said to media. “I didn’t expect it to be quite as good. I was a little bit nervous going into the race about what to expect and how we were going to do and what the pace of the car was going to be.
“Especially from a degradation side of it, I think like the first five laps of every stint, you know, I felt confident we could be quick. Just could we maintain that, could we stay there for the whole race? And surprisingly it was better than I was expecting. So, a good surprise, definitely helped us achieve the result. I know it is still not great – Fernando was clearly quicker at the end by quite a chunk every lap and I’m like almost crashing in every corner.
“But to be P5 [P4] shows that we’ve taken a good step forward so I’m very happy with that. The upgrade has definitely helped us take a big step forward. So, I’m very happy. A good amount of points and a good reward for the team. It makes such a big difference to fight some of the quicker cars and the bigger teams and not just that but to be fighting for P5 [P4], I guess, makes a big difference.
“It’s just a lot more exciting for myself, probably for everyone watching, for all of the McLaren fans and everyone who works within the team, of course it’s more exciting. You feel like you’re getting rewarded and that makes a big change, so very happy with how everyone’s done, the progress we’ve made, but clearly more to be done,” summed up Norris.
Here’s Lando Norris passing Lewis Hamilton: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-austrian-grand-prix-norris-sweeps-past-hamilton-to-claim-p4.1770317469753124852.html
Here’s revised Austrian GP results
Here’s how F1 Austrian GP panned out
Here’s FIA rejecting McLaren’s plea
