McLaren's Lando Norris says he took a riskier approach on the opening lap of Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, as he battled with World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Norris started the race from fifth position and challenged Hamilton through the opening sequence of corners, before falling behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.
It marked a bolder approach from Norris compared to recent grands prix, in which he has opted to approach the first lap with a more conservative stance.
“I still kind of got around Turn 1 like ‘do I run off, do I not’, but yeah, I had faith in Lewis that he wouldn’t do anything silly especially with the situation he’s in,” said Norris.
“I can, in some ways, take more risks than he can. I was outside of him in Turn 1 which wasn’t easy.
“There’s more… more time, more result to come in me, making it around the first few corners, getting to the end, racing and learning about how to manage the battery, manage the tyres, there’s more to gain from that than trying to get one position at Turn 1 and doing something stupid.
“Maybe I’ve dropped back further than I’ve wanted to [in some races] but I think I’ve taken the safer option for a good reason. As you saw [in Austria] if I want to push and I need to I can go forward.”
Norris eventually overhauled Raikkonen and pulled clear to finish the race as Formula 1’s lead midfielder, taking sixth position for McLaren.
“After that it was more controlling the race, getting past the Alfas because we were confident we had good pace, managing the tyres, and trying to make it to the end,” he concluded.
Norris moved up to eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship, one position behind team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.
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