Lando Norris: With new products we were able to take a step forward

Lando Norris in Austria was given a modernized McLaren car, which in many ways helped him to show a worthy fifth result. His team-mate, Oscar Piastri, only gets the same set of upgrades at Silverstone, and this weekend had to drive the old version of the MCL60, and was also the unwitting victim of an incident that happened on the track ahead of him.

Lando Norris (5e): “The day went very well for us, I am satisfied. Honestly, I didn’t expect us to perform so well, and before the race I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, what pace we would be able to handle and how we would act.

First of all I was concerned about the degree of rubber degradation, but I found out during the first part. I was confident that we could go fast, but the question is whether we can maintain a high pace throughout the race.

Surprisingly, everything went better than expected. It came as a pleasant surprise! Of course, the technical innovations prepared by the team made it possible to take a big step forward. Overall, I am happy that we earned a lot of points, because it is a special pleasure to compete with top teams for 5th position.

It’s much more interesting for me, for everyone watching the race, for all the fans of the team and everyone at McLaren. There is a feeling that we are getting a reward for all the efforts made, and this is a big difference. Overall, of course, I am pleased with the progress made, although it is clear that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Oscar Pistri (17th): “Some laps were very difficult due to the fact that halfway through the race the front wing of my car was damaged. This was due to the fact that right in front of me in one of the corners there was an incident involving Kevin Magnussen and several other riders, and I just had nowhere to go.

It’s a shame, of course, although our pace wasn’t very good without it. However, if we talk about positive things, then together with the whole team I am happy that Lando finished in such a high position. I look forward to next week when my car also gets the same set of technical updates.

Lando obviously had a great race, although to be honest I only got to see a few individual moments. He’s great, but it’s clear that his car worked perfectly this weekend, not only in qualifying, but also enabled him to keep a good pace throughout the race.

Now we will prepare for next weekend, especially as the team will prepare even more new products for the Hungarian Grand Prix. And this weekend, to be honest, I want to forget as soon as possible.