Styrian GP the "best race of my F1 career" - Norris

Lando Norris

Styrian GP the "best race of my F1 career" - Norris

Fifth better than maiden podium last time out for McLaren driver

Sam Hall

Monday 13 July 2020 15:36

McLaren driver Lando Norris has labelled the Styrian Grand Prix as the "best race" of his Formula 1 career.

Norris had fans on the edge of their seats in the closing stages of the race at the Red Bull Ring, overtaking three cars in the final three laps to climb from eighth to fifth by the chequered flag.

Despite setting the fastest lap on the final lap of the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix to steal third place away from Lewis Hamilton, Norris believes his performance was better on this occasion.

Taking to social media, Norris described it as the "best race in my F1 career".

Describing the effort he has put in to now become a real racer that can battle with other drivers, Norris said: "It was definitely not my strength last year, and it was a thing I worked on a lot last year and over the winter into this year.

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"To see those gains and some of those boxes ticked, I'm very happy with, especially that second stint, making those moves when I had to, especially [Lance] Stroll and Sergio [Perez on the final lap, that was a nice little extra.

"It was a fun race, I got three positions in the last three laps, so probably the best Formula 1 race I've done.

"As a team, we have done an excellent job in these first two weekends, but there's still a long way to go."

View this post on Instagram

P5!!!! Whooooooooop! Best race of my F1 career! Thanks team @mclaren

A post shared by Lando Norris (@landonorris) on Jul 12, 2020 at 11:35am PDT

After finishing third and fifth in the opening two races of the season, Norris currently sits third in the drivers' standings behind Mercedes duo in championship leader Valtteri Bottas, and Styrian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton.

Given the pain he was in over the weekend from an internal injury he has yet to fully divulge the details of, Norris would appreciate a break rather than going into another race in Hungary this weekend.

"It would be nice to have a break, not because I'm tired or anything, I would love to go into another race, especially after these two weekends, they've been very positive for us," said Norris.

"But also it would be nine to give my body a little break because of my injury. It wasn't too bad [during the race]. I was pretty painkillered up, I didn't feel anything."

Before you go...

Bottas now has no reason to doubt himself in title fight with Hamilton

Styrian Grand Prix: Five talking points