Ferrari remains “a major threat” to McLaren in the P3 F1 battle

The Brit continued his impressive start to the season by finishing fifth in the Styrian Grand Prix for the third time in a row, continuing his remarkable series of top eight finishes this year.

Norris beat former teammate Carlos Sainz and recovering Charles Leclerc in Austria, but believes Ferrari will do well in the battle for P3, which McLaren currently holds with 12 points.

“They’re up and down a bit,” Norris said of Ferrari’s form. “It’s not that they are in trouble every race.

“Paul Ricard was particularly bad for them, but they’ll like a lot of the tracks better than we do.

On the subject of matching items

“They’re still fighting on the straights. But on the GPS they are one of the best in the corners, similar to Mercedes and Ferrari and lots of corners. You are currently a major threat.

“We’re still working hard so we don’t take anything for granted at the moment,” he added. “We have to continue to dismantle and improve the car because when they have everything together they can easily be ahead of us. It’s tough.

On the subject of matching items

“Most of the time this year they qualified us and they took pole position two or three times. It shows that they have a very good car. As soon as they solve their problems in the race, they fly.

“In a way, you would say that they have a better car than us in certain scenarios, tracks and situations. Or we have a better car like yesterday, so we’ll see.”

Pirelli is taking a step softer in its tire selection for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, leaving Norris in the dark as to whether the change will help or hinder McLaren’s performance.

“It depends on the tire situation, whether they fit us or harm us a little more, I’m not sure,” he said.

“I would like to say that the more grip we have, the better, because we are good in qualifying there if we have this grip and the stable rear end and the limits are not so easily exposed.

“Today was terrible, I struggled with the rear wheels and the tires overheated and all that. It just feels terrible. Then the difference in performance is enormous.

“We’ll see, I don’t know if the tires will help us or make it worse.”