McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris comes into the Austrian Grand Prix after a solid showing of pace in Canada, though he did not score any points due to his five-second penalty for driving too slowly behind a safety car– noted by the stewards as “unsportsmanlike conduct” done to ensure a successful double-stack in the pits.
Norris crossed the line in ninth, but ended up dropping back to thirteenth after the penalty was applied. In spite of this, Norris had positives to take away from Canada, considering the team’s pace and proximity to the points positions through the weekend.
In the week off from racing, the British driver said that he has been preparing to take on the Red Bull Ring at the McLaren Technology Centre through simulator work.
“The Canadian GP was a difficult but fun weekend. There was some good overtaking, and we were able to fight for points on-track. Since then, I’ve been back at the MTC and in the sim this week to prepare for Austria.”
The Red Bull Ring holds significance for Norris, with him achieving his first podium result at the venue– a third place finish in 2020. Along with the sprint weekend set-up, which offers more opportunities to score points and come through the field, Norris said that this weekend is a “promising” one.
“The Red Bull Ring is one of my favourite circuits. It holds a lot of good memories for me, having scored my first podium there. It’s a Sprint weekend too, which always makes it more interesting. It’s all looking promising, so we’ll get out there and give it our all.”
“I’m looking forward to returning to the Red Bull Ring, this time in an F1 car” – Oscar Piastri
Team-mate Oscar Piastri was content with taking eleventh place after a strong first race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Although he was disappointed by his crash in the pole-shootout, he was able to learn alot from the weekend as a whole.
“I’m happy with my Canada debut. After a frustrating Q3, my Sunday ended just shy of the top 10. There was a lot of learning, and my engineers and I went over everything at the MTC this week.”
As he turns his attention to Austria, the Australian driver said that he is looking forward to taking on the Red Bull Ring for the first time since entering the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Piastri enjoyed his first experience of the sprint format at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and said that he is excited to return to the format for the second of six specified sprint weekends.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the Red Bull Ring, this time in an F1 car. I quite enjoyed the new Sprint format in Baku, so I’m looking forward to experiencing that again this weekend and hopefully bring back some points for the team.”
