Boullier impressed by Norris debut

McLaren was impressed by Lando Norris on the 17-year-old's debut in a current F1 car, according to racing director Eric Boullier.

Norris tested a 2011 McLaren in Portugal earlier this year in preparation for a full test appearance at the Hungaroring, taking over from Stoffel Vandoorne on day two of the in-season test. The Formula 3 championship contender duly posted the second-best time on Wednesday, just 0.261s slower than Sebastian Vettel and almost half a second clear of Vandoorne's best time from the previous day.

"I'm pleased to say that today was another very productive and useful day, for both McLaren Honda and Lando Norris," Boullier said at the end of the test. "We've completed a good number of laps with no major issues, and we've made great progress with our test program.

"To follow a strong race weekend in Budapest with two positive days of testing is a great boost for the whole team as we enter the shutdown period, and the information we've gathered will be incredibly valuable for us as we move forward with the development of our package for Spa and beyond.

"Lando has impressed us all with his maturity, professionalism and speed, and has got to grips very quickly with the car in only his first outing in the MCL32. His feedback with the engineers has been valuable and accurate, and he's certainly an asset to our test driver line-up – not to mention a potential star of the future."

Norris himself said he hopes the test "will be the first of many" and admitted it took him a while to feel how far he could push the car, having previously only driven it in the simulator.

"Today has been a very exciting day for me, and something I've looked forward to for quite some time," Norris said. "It's been a really good day – and a very productive one for all of us. I managed to get through all the tests that the team asked me to complete, and everything went well.

"Getting used to the car was a bit of a challenge at first, but by the end of the day I felt very comfortable. I got a lot of laps under my belt and I really enjoyed the experience."