Lando Norris felt there was more performance in the McLaren F1 Team if required as he recorded his joint best result of his career with sixth place at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The British driver started fifth at the Red Bull Ring and a good start meant he was battling with the Mercedes AMG-Motorsport of Lewis Hamilton for third going up the hill at turn three.
Norris lost out to his fellow Brit and the Alfa Romeo Racing of Kimi Räikkönen later in the opening lap but fought back against the Alfa Romeo and declared the race as fun.
“It was a fun race!
“A good start, managed to go forwards and battled the Mercedes and the Ferrari for a lap or so, but had to concede those positions and think of my own race.
“The Alfa got past me on the first lap, around the outside at Turn Four.
“Not much I could’ve done and dropped back to fourth and then fifth, then had Max behind me for a little bit, so I was in there.”
As the race began to settle down, Norris got in a good rhythm and says he was able to do what he “needed to do” in order to save the tyres in the Austrian heat.
“I saved my tyres for the first few laps, had it under control then pushed and did what I needed to do, pulled a gap, boxed, and managed the pace from then on.
“I was on the Medium, so was a little bit unsure about what we could do, or what the tyres would do towards the end of the stint.”
The Red Bull Racing of Pierre Gasly closed in on the McLaren in the latter stages of the race but Norris says there was more in the tank as he held off the Frenchman to secure sixth place.
“Gasly was pushing me for the last few laps, but I was just doing what I had to do in terms of saving the tyres and not taking any risks – there was a lot more in it if I really needed to pish.
“A massive thanks to the McLaren team at the circuit and back at the factory.
“Looking forward to my home race now!”
