How F1’s consistent star continues to underline his talent

The McLaren driver produced a lap just 0.053s slower than Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and ended up just 0.279s shy of Max Verstappen’s pole position effort as he set the fourth-fastest time in Q3. 

Norris will start from third on the grid due to Valtteri Bottas’ penalty, putting him firmly in the mix at the front of the grid along with the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers. 

It was the kind of exceptional display we have become accustomed to seeing this year from the 21-year-old Briton, who has been a regular star on both Saturdays and Sundays across the opening events of the season so far. 

“For sure I wasn't really expecting it to be as close as we were,” Norris admitted after qualifying. 

"I was just expecting Red Bull and Mercedes to have a bit more of a gap but the car was good and even my very first lap that I did in Q1 was was very strong already. 

"A little bit surprised it was that good and we didn't have to do the second run and things like that. I struggled quite a bit in P2 yesterday and then we made further improvements from P3 to quali and the car got a lot better so yeah, it's good. 

“It was rewarding and especially because quali has been… not our weakness, but it's not been our strongest area lately. It's nice to make our lives a little bit easier tomorrow.” 

Norris has already claimed two brilliant podiums at Imola and Monaco this year and could find himself in contention for a third at a circuit he excelled at last season on his way to scoring his maiden rostrum appearance. 

“Maybe it's just us, me and my car,” Norris said when asked what the key is to his success at the Red Bull Ring, 

“The car must suit this track a bit more than others for sure. But I feel like I was driving well at the same time. I felt like I did some good laps. 

“The car's still not super easy to drive, it's hard to get it right on the limit but when we do which I probably did quite a bit today we can be where we are. 

“I don't know what the secret is but the car was very nice to drive with confidence and when I'm driving well you put these two together and we can be very strong.” 

The way Norris has comprehensively outperformed the highly-rated, seven-time F1 winner Daniel Ricciardo has been hugely impressive. 

After two years of fairly equal competition between Norris and Carlos Sainz, many believed that Ricciardo would provide the McLaren incumbent with his biggest task of his F1 career to date. 

Norris has so far passed the test with flying colours and has provided an emphatic response to any lingering doubters. Qualifying in Austria was no different as Norris beat Ricciardo (13th on the grid) by a resounding margin of eight-tenths. 

Norris is currently riding a wave of momentum amid a streak of 11 consecutive races inside the points - more than any other driver in F1. 

And it is that kind of consistency that has been crucial to Norris finding himself fourth in the championship, behind only the Red Bull drivers and reigning world champion Hamilton. 

Norris is determined to keep his superb run going in Sunday’s race. 

“It’s a similar story to a couple of years ago when I was into P2 or P3 and we were mixed with the Red Bulls and the Mercedes guys,” he said. 

“If there’s an opportunity, 100% I’ll go for it, but I still need to pick and choose my competitors and my racers carefully and not kill the tyres and things like that. 

“So, we’ll wait and see. I think on paper, on Friday, they were quite a bit quicker than us – both the Mercedes and Red Bulls – so I’m not expecting to be super competitive against them but we still have a good chance to beat everyone else behind, so that’s the plan.”

Norris performances have left a huge impression at McLaren, resulting in the young Brit being offered a new contract that will keep him at Woking until the end of 2024. 

Ahead of this weekend’s Styrian GP, McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl was understandably full of praise for his in-form driver. 

“I think with everything we have seen so far from him it just shows that he has made a big step forward,” Seidl said. “What is simply great to see is that even after a qualifying lap that didn’t go to plan or a race start that didn’t go to plan, he keeps the overview. 

“He stays calm, he knows his opportunities are coming, he manages the tires when he has to and then he uses the potential which is there when the opportunities come up in the race. That’s obviously great to see how he grew into this over the last two and a half years.

“Scoring in each race also means obviously that the team is doing a great job in terms of reliability, in terms of race strategy, in terms of pit stops, and I’m obviously very happy with what I’m seeing there.” 

Norris’ current form and level of performance is vindication of the masterstroke McLaren pulled by tying down its star talent on a long-term deal, with everything pointing towards him being the real deal.