Lando Norris says McLaren’s upgrades for the Austrian Grand Prix meant their race tempo was stronger than he anticipated.
He took the chequered flag in fifth place, which was his and McLaren’s greatest results of the 2023 season to this point. It acquired even higher after the race when penalties for different drivers moved him as much as fourth.
McLaren had offered Norris with a raft of upgrades for the race weekend on the Pink Bull Ring, however didn’t have sufficient components to do the identical for his crew mate Oscar Piastri. Norris, who completed just below 4 seconds forward of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, mentioned he had been nervous that after a robust qualifying session, McLaren wouldn’t be be as aggressive within the grand prix.
“I used to be a bit nervous coming into the race, actually, that the race tempo goes to allow us to down lots in the present day,” he admitted. “However really it was higher than I used to be anticipating, which is an efficient shock.
“[It’s] nonetheless not nice – Fernando was clearly faster on the finish by fairly a bit each lap and I’m like nearly crashing in each nook. However to be P5 exhibits that we’ve taken a very good step ahead so I’m very pleased with that.”
Regardless of McLaren bettering their race tempo with their upgrades, Norris says the automotive nonetheless has lots of the identical difficulties he has been coping with throughout the early a part of the season.
“You simply go to the restrict of what the automotive can do on the following stage,” he defined. “The automotive simply goes fast round each nook, however the way in which it’s a must to drive is strictly the identical, which is I suppose type of our subsequent challenge to sort out.
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“Issues that we’ve been complaining about all yr are nonetheless the identical, we’re simply at the next stage. So I really feel like I might be extra assured if we will actually sort out these points. I really feel like they’re letting us down lots on the minute. So it’s not nearly downforce, it’s in regards to the dealing with and the way you drive the automotive. Not simply placing a lot more downforce on it and type of sending it. So extra technical issues we have to try to sort out and perceive.
“After we try this, I’m assured we will positively battle among the faster vehicles forward of us.”
Heading into the crew’s house grand prix at Silverstone subsequent weekend, Norris says he has loads of confidence about McLaren’s potential from the Pink Bull Ring.
“The automotive’s faster – it’s simply faster in every single place – it’s simply very tough to drive, nonetheless,” he mentioned.
“If we had a nicer automotive to drive, one which was only a bit simpler, a much bigger working vary, a much bigger window to work in, then I believe we will take one other huge step ahead. Particularly in consistency and race tempo and so forth – even in one-lap tempo.
“So there’s loads of issues to work on and I believe we’ve acquired extra issues coming subsequent weekend, so I don’t wish to get too forward of ourselves. I believe this has all the time been our greatest race of the entire yr, so I’ll be sure I’ll let everybody within the crew know that, simply to maintain our heads down after which keep cool for the following weekend.”
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