Lando Norris is gearing up for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, a Formula 1 venue that holds good memories for him as it’s where he clinched his first podium.
Norris finished third at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, but with the state of affairs at McLaren this year, it is highly improbable that he can repeat such a feat this weekend.
On the back of the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, where Norris raced to ninth, only to drop out of the points after a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behaviour”, the Briton is now looking ahead to the upcoming race in Austria, which will be the second Sprint weekend this season.
“The Canadian GP was a difficult but fun weekend,” Norris said in McLaren‘s race preview. “There was some good overtaking, and we were able to fight for points on-track. Since then, I’ve been back at the MTC and in the sim this week to prepare for Australia.
“The Red Bull Ring is one of my favourite circuits,” he added. “It holds a lot of good memories for me, having scored my first podium there. It’s a Sprint weekend too, which always makes it more interesting.
“It’s all looking promising, so we’ll get out there and give it our all,” the 23-year-old concluded.
McLaren returning to racing with mixed feelings
Oscar Piastri missed out on points in Canada, but is excited about racing in Austria as an F1 driver for the first time this weekend.
“I’m happy with my Canada debut,” Piastri said. “After a frustrating Q3, my Sunday ended just shy of the top 10. There was a lot of learning, and my engineers and I went over everything at the MTC this week.
“I’m looking forward to returning to the Red Bull Ring, this time in an F1 car,” he continued. “I quite enjoyed the new Sprint format in Baku, so I’m looking forward to experiencing that again this weekend and hopefully bring back some points for the team.”
As for McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, he added: “We return from Canada with mixed feelings. On one hand it’s a shame that the five second penalty given to Lando resulted in a demotion to P13, but on the other hand we showed better pace and both cars were fighting for points.
“We now shift our focus to this double-header starting with Austria this weekend. The Austrian GP is also a Sprint race weekend.
“With only one practice session, we will look to try and be ready straight away and be competitive at a track in which we had positive results in previous years,” Stella concluded.