McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris says the largest shock of the Austrian Grand Prix was seeing rival Ferrari battle.
Simply two weeks after Lewis Hamilton gained in Barcelona, the seven-time world champion was left in fifth place, shedding to Norris teammate Oscar Piastri.
In the meantime, Norris completed seventh, forward of Charles Leclerc’s different Ferrari, after each Scuderia drivers pitted 3 times to increase the lifetime of their tires.
It was a troublesome race for Ferrari in Austria
Norris admitted he didn’t anticipate McLaren to battle them.
“Right now’s race was not simple due to the excessive temperatures,” he mentioned of the race. “I misplaced as a result of I misplaced to a couple automobiles on the primary lap and needed to field Oscar first to cowl Hajar on the pit cease. I misplaced, that is actually all.”
“So I haven’t got a lot to complain about. Aside from that we simply misplaced observe place. Observe place was crucial factor immediately. It is unlucky however it’s what it’s.”
“The tempo heading into Sunday might be trying a little bit higher than anticipated.
“The actual shock immediately was for Ferrari, they had been struggling a lot. I really feel unhealthy for them, to be trustworthy. I imply, when you do not have the ability it’s a must to push actually onerous within the corners and you may’t do this with these tires. It is a robust race for them.”
“However aside from that it wasn’t a nasty race (for us). I feel we nonetheless struggled with stability and it is nonetheless extremely troublesome to drive the automobile, however I anticipate it to be the identical story for everybody on observe immediately. We did not change something and nonetheless had the identical struggles. We simply want extra time to enhance on it.”
In the meantime, Piastri expressed comparable sentiments to Norris concerning McLaren’s Maranello rival.
Piastri wins each Ferraris
“To be trustworthy, I feel it was a little bit of a shock that we had been in a position to beat Ferrari,” mentioned the Australian. “Clearly in my case it wasn’t a giant deal.
“Perhaps technique helped us immediately, the tempo was a little bit bit stronger than them, however clearly it wasn’t robust sufficient to catch Mercedes and Verstappen was loads sooner than we anticipated. So we’re there.”
On a person degree, Piastri was pleased to bounce again after Sunday’s poor efficiency at Barcelona, which left him properly off the tempo of his team-mates.
“I feel immediately’s race was comparable in some methods, however it was evening and day totally different for me,” he mentioned. “So we put plenty of effort into understanding why Barcelona had been so difficult. Having understood that, I feel we attacked in a totally totally different means this weekend and particularly immediately.”
“And I feel the result’s form of a testomony to that effort. So from that facet, I am actually pleased. The final time we did not get the trophy, I all the time want we had a little bit extra, however it was the very best we may do.”
