Norris will “go for it” against Verstappen if chance appears in F1 Austrian GP

Lando Norris says he will attack Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix should the opportunity arise in the early stages of Sunday’s race.

Connor McDonagh

03 Jul 2021

(L to R): Second placed Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in qualifying parc ferme with pole sitter Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing. — (L to R): Second placed Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in qualifying parc…
© FIA Pool Image for Editorial Use

Norris starred in qualifying yet again as he narrowly missed out on pole position at the Red Bull Ring by just 0.048s.

It is the McLaren driver’s career-best qualifying result, beating Sergio Perez and both Mercedes drivers to a front-row starting position.

While Norris predicts that Red Bull and Mercedes will have the advantage on race day, he plans to fight Verstappen for the lead if he has the chance to do so on the opening lap.

“We’ll do our best to try and take a step forward and go in the right direction, but you know, it wasn’t like we were exactly close last weekend, and now we have that little bit more of a step,” Norris said.

“I don’t want to be too negative, I want to be optimistic, as I should be. But I’m also realistic and know that it’s going to be a tough race. We’re in the best position possible to maximise everything. If I have a chance to go for P1, a chance to race Max and go for it, I will. I’m still doing that, I’m still racing, still doing the best I can.

“I think I also know what’s best for us, what’s best for myself, best for the team and sadly who we’re racing against in the race tomorrow.”

Norris admitted that he 'took more risks' on his final lap in Q3 as having only Verstappen ahead of him on track meant he didn’t benefit as much from the slipstream effect and had to make up the deficit through the corners.

“Quite possibly, I think most corners, I definitely did my best laps on,” Norris added. “I was actually just behind Max, I was P2 on track so I was a bit nervous that I was going to start losing a lot in the straights, which I did. But I made up for it in the corners.

“Especially the high-speed, I took quite a few more risks. That’s where I found a lot of lap time, it paid off in the end, so yeah, it’s a cool feeling, especially around here, it’s an awesome track to really push on and find those last couple of hundredths, especially taking the risks, not taking the risks, so on. It was a good feeling and I definitely rewarded myself nicely.”