Lando Norris and McLaren vow to take fight to Max Verstappen in Austria sprint

Lando Norris has promised to battle Max Verstappen for victory in the sprint race at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position after sprint qualifying on Friday.

The two McLarens of Norris and Oscar Piastri sit behind him in P2 and P3 respectively.

Norris told Sky Sports about his Friday at the Red Bull Ring: “Reasonably good. I never got quite comfortable until my final lap.

“It was a nice lap by Max. A nice position for tomorrow.”

Asked if he could fight Verstappen for victory on Saturday, Norris insisted: “From what we saw at the moment? Yes…”

Piastri, who rocketed back into form on Friday in Austria, said: “The position is quite good obviously.

“The last lap, a couple of corners I could’ve tidied up.

“It was a rough one, last weekend, so we are back on the pace.

“The new front wing is working well.”

Piastri was also asked if he could contend for sprint race victory on Saturday.

“I think so,” he said. “The gap to Max is not massive.

“I know there were a couple of mistakes on that lap, so we are definitely in the mix.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella added: “It was a tricky qualifying session. It wasn’t easy to deliver the lap.

“We are happy with this result. Like always, Max finds a good performance. We have a lot of respect for that.

“In terms of data for sprint qualy, we saw that Lando and Oscar have opportunities to improve.

“In terms of the sprint race, it will depend on the temperature.

“It will depend on what people do with tyres. Do you want to use a new or used tyre in the sprint?”