Formula One Lando delighted with ‘very good start to the season’
LANDO Norris spoke of his delight at an excellent start to the Formula One season after finishing fifth in Sunday’s Styrian grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria.
The 20-year-old Bristol-born McLaren driver moved up two places on the final lap, overtaking both the Racing Point cars, as he completed another impressive drive, following his third-placed finish in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Norris suffered a three-place grid penalty in qualifying, which meant he began the race ninth on the grid. However, he made light of the handicap to take fifth place and is now third in the overall standings, behind the two Mercedes drivers, Valtteri Bottas and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Reflecting on Sunday’s race, Norris said: “A very good race from us. First of all, the team did an awesome job with the strategy and I did a good job with managing the soft tyres in the first stint.
“We got to lap 39 before we boxed and that was one of the key aspects to our race in allowing us to be so strong in the second stint, to go out on the mediums and be one of the fastest on track for some of the laps.
“We managed to go from tenth all the way up to fifth, with three of those overtakes on the final two laps. It was a race where I had to go forwards and not maintain my position like I had to last week. It was much more a race of attacking and overtaking, which was nice to do. Very happy for myself but even more for the team, and getting some more points on the board with also the fastest lap from Carlos (Sainz). A really good two weekends and a very good start to the season. We just need to try to maintain it into the next one.”
Andreas Siedl, the McLaren team principal, was also delighted ith Norris’ perfrormance on Sunday.
He said: “Lando showed he’s a fighter despite the pain he suffered during the weekend. He continued to perform and stepped up when it really mattered, especially in the second half of the race and again with some exciting final laps.”