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Lando Norris described his victory in the Austrian Grand Prix as “fulfilling” and “giving me good confidence” as he prepares for his Silverstone home race.
The McLaren driver’s third victory of the season and 15 points away from the Australian in the championship were the exact kind of races the McLaren driver needed, under intense pressure from team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this for Norris was that it served as confirmation of a positive trajectory he has been on in the past few weeks after a difficult start to the season – and that it helped lay the ghosts of the last race in Canada, where he retired after running into the back of his sister McLaren.
“It’s been a good clean weekend. I had a great time, I felt very at ease, and I was very proud of my car. It also performed exactly as I wanted and needed.
The pace has always been there at times, and it’s not that I’ve never been able to do it before. It’s just there’s been some different reasons for different things.
“I’m pretty happy coming in today and yesterday to do the job that I did,” I said.
“But it doesn’t come quickly,” he said. It doesn’t come just because I’ve turned up this weekend and things are better. I’m putting in a lot of effort.
Austria potentially a ‘ pivotal ‘ race
Norris was referring to the work that his team and driver have done this year to put him back on the map in the fight against Piastri.
Piastri took over that position from the start of this season after taking the title of best overall McLaren driver in 2024.
Norris ‘ win in Austria still leaves him two victories short of Piastri’s tally in 2025, and the Australian still has four pole positions to his team-mate’s three. However, Austria had a number of potential pivotal races.
Norris won his second straight race victory in Monaco at the end of last month, which is significant.
After each race, McLaren and Norris met up with each other to discuss Canada, which team principal Andrea Stella described as a “benign situation” brought on by “a misjudgment of proximity to the car ahead” as they do with both drivers.
Stella explained that Piastri’s car was in “energy recovery mode” at the time, which caused the closing speed to be faster than Lando had anticipated, which Stella explained in Austria.
Stella added: “The conversations were all about the fact that the speed is there.
Lando won the title in Monaco with pole position. He was in line for pole position when he touched the wall during Canada qualifying. He was the fastest car in Canada in the race. Position polo in Austria.
“The execution is done, and results will come,” Lando said, “and the speed is there.”
Norris is “very resilient.”
Norris has struggled this season not because of his lack of pace. It has been that he has been struggling to string laps together in qualifying to prove it. And that’s because of a particular car’s lack of feel from the front axle, which has affected him more than Piastri.
McLaren made a modification to the front suspension geometry specifically to lessen the drivers’ feelings of numbness or lack of cueing. Norris adopted it, and used it again in Austria. Because he thought he didn’t need it, Pirasti has not used it altogether.
This adjustment is not intended to be a performance improvement. But because it increases the feel provided to the driver through the steering mid-corner, which Norris relies on heavily, it allows him to access more of the potential of the car more easily.
Stella asserted that understanding what is happening with the front tires is more dependent on the feeling the driver has when using the steering wheel.
Oscar has access to it, but this almost seems like a set-up option. It’s not in itself something that increases the grip that you have available”.
Stella continued, “We are in a time where Lando is unquestionably resilient.
So, both from a technical and personal development perspective, Lando deserves praise for his efforts.
Piastri ‘ pushes the boundaries ‘
Due to a spin for Pierre Gasly in the final corner, both Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were unable to complete their final runs in qualifying, which exaggerated the gap.
Nevertheless, all Norris ‘ rivals were impressed by his lap time, and he never looked like being beaten to pole.
A different issue existed regarding the race. The two McLarens engaged in a close fight during the opening session. Piastri’s pass of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari into Turn One after the start allowed him to be within one second of Norris at the end of the first lap, and that gave him the use of the DRS overtaking aid, which gives a 0.7-second advantage.
Piastri was able to press on Norris in turn because of this. Norris had no chance of regaining his battery’s full potential, despite having to defend. It meant the two McLarens were tied together for the first stint.
Piastri passed him into Turn Three on lap 11, but Norris resisted and won the position at Turn Four after a few errors from his part in the final two corners of lap 10.
After nine laps, Piastri made a daring inside-the-wall dive at Turn Four, locking his brakes and nearly collecting his team-mate. That earned him a censure from the team for taking too big a risk with the cars, something Piastri said was “fair comment”.
He continued, “Locking up and missing your team-mate’s back by not a lot is definitely pushing the limits.” I didn’t believe it was a wise decision to try that one again, even if I hadn’t been told anything.
” It was close at some points, probably pushing the limits a bit much from my side once or twice.
“But we’re competing for race victories in Formula 1,” he said. It will be a lot of work and effort. I thought it was an entertaining race. Maybe we didn’t do what was right by Lando after the first stop, but the first 20 laps were pretty intense. It was a good fight, then.
Silverstone is perceived as a “positive distraction.”
Austria was a race that made observers be thankful McLaren are operating a policy of open competition between their drivers, for Norris and Piastri were in a league of their own.
Stella acknowledged that this was influenced by a new front wing, new suspension fairings, and brake ducts from the front of the car.
As for how much they have improved the team in comparison to the rest of the field, Stella also noted that McLaren would have been more advantageous on Austria because their car was already capable in long, medium-speed corners like those that constitute the final two-thirds of the Red Bull Ring lap. And also that Norris is “a little bit of a specialist in Austria”.
Mercedes and Red Bull both have reasons to believe they can put up more of a fight at Silverstone when the two teams next compete.
Norris claims that he is “excited” for “the best race weekend of the year” in his post-wince.
And he rejected the idea that he was under any extra pressure there.
He said, “Of course, it’s where I want to win more than anywhere else, but it doesn’t change anything.” Every morning when I wake up, it just makes me smile a little bit more.
” It probably distracts me in a good way more than anything… more of a positive distraction, I would say, more than a pressure.
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