Norris expecting ‘tight’ fight for pole in Austria

After leading team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two in Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris predicted a “tight” qualifying period.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third fastest, 0. 318 seconds off the pace, behind Piastri, who was 0. 157 seconds quicker.

Lance Stroll from Aston Martin came in fourth place, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

This weekend, all of the McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari models will receive upgrades.

McLaren has updated its front suspension shaping to work with a brand-new front wing that was first tested at the most recent Canadian race.

Norris concluded the session by saying that the car “felt good from the beginning.”

Verstappen claimed that Red Bull had a new floor edge and that the car “lacks a little pace” and “a little too much understeer in the car” in addition to short run and long runs. We must make an effort to eliminate that.

Ferrari’s new floor, which was Lewis Hamilton’s 10th fastest, is their first upgrade since Bahrain in April, completely redesigned.

“A lot of work was put in place to bring the floor, but as you can see, it hasn’t necessarily affected our competitiveness. Hamilton remarked. The car actually doesn’t feel bad; it just moves very slowly, “we.” We must examine that.

Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull placed seventh, followed by Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso of Sauber, and Hamilton of Aston Martin.

The later stages of the race simulation gave a complex picture, with the leading drivers choosing various tire types.

Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, who is 11th fastest on the list of headline lap times, appeared to have a slight advantage over Norris and Leclerc on the medium tyre.

Verstappen ran a short distance on a soft tyre while Piastri ran a long distance on a hard tyre, slightly quicker than Hamilton.

We may have moved a little slower than some of the others, but I’m confident that they will eventually catch up. Max is close behind, and Red Bull’s performance tends to improve significantly going into Saturday.

“I anticipate a good day tomorrow, and I’m confident that some things will change,” he said. Tomorrow will still be tense. It is always that way.

Verstappen is the driver who has the best chance of posing as the McLarens, according to Piastri, the championship leader. This weekend, he’ll undoubtedly pose a threat, the Australian warned.

“The car is feeling good, and I think it’s a really good day,” the driver said.

Russell, who won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, claimed Mercedes was completely surprised by his time that had topped first practice.

We need to consider why we didn’t have the same pace as we did in the qualifying runs this morning, and the race pace was significantly slower than it did in the qualifying runs, he continued.

McLaren’s Alexander Dunne made an impressive F1 debut in the first session.

The 19-year-old Irishman finished fourth fastest behind Piastri, who is leading the Formula 2 championship this year and who had his first taste of an F1 car on a grand prix weekend.

In order to prepare for his race at the Red Bull Ring, Dunne recently had a test in McLaren’s 2023 car in Austin, Texas.

In addition to then McLaren driver Alonso, Dunne’s performance can be seen as being comparable to Norris’ similar pace when he drove in practice at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.