Lando Norris claims Max Verstappen was ‘fractionally faster’ after ending Austria Sprint in P3

The 2024 Austrian Sprint race was an extremely exciting watch.

Lando Norris claims Max Verstappen was ‘fractionally faster’ after ending Austria Sprint in P3

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris (via IMAGO)

McLaren driver, Lando Norris has spoken on his observations after the exciting Sprint race in Austria, which ended with the 24-year-old in P3. Norris claimed that Sprint race winner, Max Verstappen was faster than the papayas by a small margin despite finishing with a lead of over 4.3 seconds.

McLaren’s Lando Norris started on the front row with Oscar Piastri on the second after narrowly missing out on pole position by a couple of hundredths to Max Verstappen, who brilliantly outpaced the two drivers on Friday. Following the close qualifying session the day before, the three talented drivers battled it out around the Red Bull Ring during the 100-kilometer sprint.

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The sprint started with Verstappen promisingly getting off the starting line and Norris and Oscar Piastri chasing the Dutch driver to take the top spot. However, the three-time world champion had the most pace out of the three and led every lap from start to finish to win the Austrian GP Sprint race.

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The pace was there, but I don't think we had the pace to go with Max, he was fractionally faster and tomorrow is another day.
Lando Norris said in his post sprint race interview

Norris concluded that a better start from him could have made a difference in Spielberg but has also praised the promising pace of the MCL38 around the Red Bull Ring. The McLaren duo will now look to perform better in the qualifying and main race on Sunday to win over Red Bull.

Oscar Piastri sheds light on his P2 finish in Spielberg

While Norris has sounded a bit disappointed with his P3 finish, Piastri has also spoken on his observations of the 23-lap event. Piastri started the race in third but was able to get a move over his teammate to finish in second place.

Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)
Yes and no. Finished 1 point higher than I started. But didn't have the pace at the end. We will definitely take the points, it's a big haul over the other teams around us.
Oscar Piastri said in his post sprint race interview

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen were involved in a strong tussle to take the lead of the Sprint race when both drivers braked late going into turn four in the opening stages of the race. This situation opened up a window for Piastri to overtake Norris strongly.

However, Piastri has claimed that McLaren did not have ample pace to win the sprint, which made him settle for P2. The Australian will now attempt to outpace Max Verstappen in qualifying in hopes of getting a better start on Sunday as he chases his first win in F1.

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