McLaren is currently in third place in the constructors’ championship and leads Ferrari 120 to 108 points ahead of Ferrari.
After a catastrophic race in France, Ferrari had a strong run in Austria last weekend. Carlos Sainz finished sixth and Charles Leclerc recovered to seventh after a pit stop on the first lap.
Norris maintained his record with good finishes with fifth place, but Daniel Ricciardo’s failure resulted in a net win for the Maranello team.
Norris believes Ferrari could have an advantage over McLaren in some places, especially if it solves the tire issues that have been holding it back this year.
“I mean, they’re just up and down a bit,” he said when asked by Autosport about McLaren’s fight against Ferrari.
“It’s not that they are in trouble every race. I think Paul Ricard was particularly bad for her. But they’ll like a lot of the tracks better than we do.
“And considering how difficult they are on the straights, they are one of the best on the GPS in the corners, similar to Mercedes and Ferrari in many corners.
“So they are our great threat right now. We’re still working hard, so at the moment we don’t take anything for granted.
“And we still have to keep reducing and improving the car because when they have everything together they can easily be ahead of us. It’s tough.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, makes a pit stop
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Norris said Ferrari’s one-lap speed was an integral part of the threat: “I think they have passed us most of the time this year and have been on pole position twice.
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“It shows that they have a very good car and as soon as they solve their problems in the race they will fly.
“In a way, you would say that in certain scenarios, tracks and situations they have a better car than us, and in others we have a better car like yesterday [Styrian GP qualifying]. So we’ll see. “
Norris argued that fighting Ferrari provides additional motivation to everyone in the McLaren camp.
“A challenge is always good,” he said.
“It makes it more exciting, it makes the team work hard and the only time you don’t like it is when they beat you. It keeps the guys working hard, even in the factory, but it shouldn’t be too hard either.
“So it’s fun. I enjoy it because it makes me work hard and push the limits and things like that. Hopefully we can do the same next week. “
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