Barcelona podium delivers a confidence boost for Norris

Lando Norris says his confidence in McLaren’s performance levels has been boosted by his podium in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The defending champion was set to finish where he started – in fourth place – prior to Kimi Antonelli’s late retirement, but he had been able to stay within range of the Mercedes drivers to the extent they were often reacting to the McLaren’s pit stops. While Lewis Hamilton won on a three-stop strategy, Norris matched the Mercedes two-stop and was just four seconds adrift of George Russell at the end of the race.

“Quite a bit [of confidence], actually,” Norris said. “I just wasn’t expecting to be… It wasn’t like I was fighting the Mercedes, but I was always there. I wasn’t far behind at all, and I probably wasn’t expecting to be quite that close for the whole race, especially because after the first stint, I think I was already like 12 seconds behind George. So, the fact we kind of pulled things around and we seemed to be stopping on good laps and things like that, I think shows good signs.

“So, I was pretty happy with the race. I think it was clear how much more I had to push comparing to them in the first parts of [each stint] – the first third and second third of a stint – because it was clear how much more I deg’d off after in the final third of a stint. But the fact I was there so close shows some good positives for us as a team.

“A better day than I was expecting. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be on the podium, so it’s just nice to be back here, nice to finish a race. I’ve not seen a checkered flag for a while, so it’s good to be here and just nice to reward the team once again.”

Despite the encouraging aspects of the result, Norris says Hamilton’s victory showed the scale of the task facing McLaren to become the benchmark team again.

“[Heading to Austria] with a lot to improve," he said. "We're happy to be back on the podium. We're happy to score points. We're happy to finish the race. But it shows the car is just not close to where we want it to be. We're improving it, but Ferrari also brought a lot of upgrades here and improved even more. And Lewis was dominant out there. I think he would have won the race no matter what, honestly.

“So, I'm very happy for him. Nice to see him on the podium. I'm happy that it was the first all-Brit podium since 1968, so I was told. So just a cool podium to be up there with both George and Lewis. And of course, mainly Lewis because he's just a good guy to be up there with, and a cool experience.

“We want to improve. We're not at the level of Mercedes or Ferrari yet. And we have to keep our heads down and keep pushing.”