Lando Norris believes he should have been third on the grid at the Austrian Grand Prix but backed out of the final corner fearing he’d exceed track limits and so lost out to Carlos Sainz.
McLaren brought a major upgrade to the Red Bull Ring that looked immediately more competitive, but Norris didn’t complete a late soft-tire run in practice after picking up some floor damage. With the car repaired for qualifying, he duly secured a spot on the second row but says he was on the verge of beating his former McLaren teammate before a scare at the final corner.
“I’m super happy,” Norris told Sky Sports. “The guys did a good job to get all the bits here this weekend and it’s paid off straight away. A very good day from start to finish. We had a few issues this morning which meant we were even more limited on running, but to be here with quite a new car and to get it to just work as it should and so on, I think that the guys did a very good job to allow that.
“So, yes, a big thanks to them. But P4, as a driver I’m complaining because I could have been P3. I made a little mistake but I’m happy nevertheless.
“It’s just difficult to commit. The last corner is a very tricky corner because you kind of hit the curb on the entry, which makes the car very nervous. I just missed the apex by a little bit and as it compresses, if you miss it, you understeer so badly, and so I thought I was on track limits and just had to back out of it. So it definitely cost me P3, which I’m a bit annoyed by because I would have loved to beat Carlos.”
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Norris has been on the podium twice at the Red Bull Ring and has put himself in a strong position for Sunday, but he says his past record slightly tempers his excitement with the updated McLaren even if he’s seen clear progress.
“Decent, huh? I don’t know any of the true numbers or anything just yet, but it’s definitely been a step forward. There have definitely been things that are shown to have improved. I have more confidence with the car in certain places. I wouldn’t say it’s changed everything — it’s not like the characteristic is loads better — but at the same time, we didn’t expect it to be a lot better. We just expected like a global improvement, which it’s done.
“I think today we’ve managed to prove it even on the short circuit, so it makes us look a bit better. Even if you doubled it and say, well half a second off, I think we’d still be happy with it. I’m always a negative guy — this track’s always been a good one for us so I don’t want to get too ahead of myself and say it’s amazing. I’d like to wait to Silverstone for that, but, like I said, the team did a good job to get everything here and to make such a big step so far. So, it’s down to me on Sunday, to turn it into some points.”