Lando Norris believes McLaren is making strong progress with its latest Formula 1 upgrades, as the team showed encouraging pace during Friday practice for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The British driver led a McLaren 1-2 in FP2 at the Red Bull Ring, highlighting the team’s early speed advantage as the weekend began.
Norris returned to the cockpit for the afternoon session after development driver Alex Dunne handled FP1 duties.
The 25-year-old finally got his opportunity to evaluate McLaren’s latest upgrade package.
The Woking-based squad have brought three performance-driven updates to Austria, including aerodynamic revisions to both the front and rear of the car, as well as a modified front suspension aimed at improving airflow and unlocking further aerodynamic gains.
After the second practice session, Norris expressed satisfaction with the team’s progress, noting that the car felt strong — a sign the upgrade package was working well.
Reflecting on missing FP1, he said: “I didn’t mind sitting on the pit wall. I actually felt a lot more relaxed there than in the car, especially here.
“I’ve always enjoyed this track. The car felt good right from the start. Alex gave solid feedback this morning after FP1 and was on pace straight away, which was encouraging to see.
“They definitely moved the car in the right direction for FP2. Now we just need to figure out if we want more of that tomorrow, less, or somewhere in between.
“So, it’s a good step forward, but hopefully there’s still a bit more to come.”
Piastri and Norris reflect on McLaren’s upgrades and tough qualifying battle ahead
On the other side of the garage, McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri shared his thoughts on the team’s performance and upgrades.
He remarked: “Looked pretty good — Max [Verstappen] is still close, so I think he’ll definitely be a threat this weekend, but the car’s feeling good. I think the pace is quite good, so positive first day.”
Regarding the upgrade package, Piastri added: “There’s some other bits and pieces. “I’m not using the bits that came in [at] Canada because they’re not an upgrade — they’re just different.
“So all the parts that we think will make the car faster are on both cars.”
Building on his earlier remarks, Norris acknowledged that McLaren might have revealed more of its true pace than some of its rivals.
He also stressed that qualifying would remain fiercely competitive, despite today’s promising performance.
“We’ve showed a bit more pace than some of the others, so I certainly think they’re going to catch up,” Norris continued.
“Max is not far behind and they normally improve a lot into Saturday.
“So I expect a good day tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll improve on some things, but it’s not as easy as maybe it looked today.
“I think it’s still going to be tight tomorrow — it always is. There’s no reason for it not to be. But we’ll work hard to make it as big of a gap as possible.”
READ MORE — Lando Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in FP2 at F1 Austrian GP
