Norris celebrates 'best race in F1' after stunning finish

Following the highs of last week's race and his maiden Formula 1 podium was always going to be challenge for Lando Norris, and heading into the Styrian Grand Prix it didn't look like things were going his way.

Norris incurred a three place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flags in Friday's practice session, which meant that instead of starting from sixth place on the grid today he was bumped down to ninth instead.

And the 20-year-old was also in pain after picking up an unspecified injury which meant he was 'drugged up' on painkillers.

Perhaps that accounts for a sluggish start to the race, in which he ended up dropping behind Racing Point's Lance Stroll in the opening laps, and then dropping a further place to Stroll's team mate Sergio Perez on lap 14.

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Although he stabilised in 11th place it looked as though he would be missing out on the points altogether this week. But as the race wore on he gradually turned the tide and with two laps to go he was back up to eighth place.

That would have been a solid if somewhat unspectacular result compared to last week. But then, just as he did a week ago at the Red Bull Ring, Norris found a whole different level once his team mate Carlos Sainz graciously ceded track position.

He was able to follow Stroll past the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo, and then blasted past the Canadian in turn to move up to sixth. And in the final seconds of the race, he was able to power past Perez in the run to the finish line to end the race in fifth.

"Really good race from me," Norris told the media after the race, his smile hidden by the mandatory face mask. "Probably my best race I’ve done in Formula 1!

"It was very enjoyable those last few laps," he continued. "Just the second stint - the first one I didn’t like because you’re in a DRS train and you can’t do anything.

"But we went much longer than we thought would be possible on the softs, and that played in our hands when we changed to the mediums. We had much better pace than everyone else around me."

He said it proved for the second week running that his race pace this season was much better than it had been in his rookie campaign.

"[Race pace was] definitely not my strength last year and also something I worked on a lot last year, over the winter and this year," he explained. "To see those gains and some of those boxes ticked, I’m very happy with it.

He admitted that his charge through the order in the final two laps had required some very good fortune along the way.

"This one was a bit lucky," he said of his opportunistic move on Ricciardo, who will be his team mate at McLaren next year.

"[He and Stroll were] fighting and I was hoping for [an opportunity]. I had to brake a lot harder and I had a lot better slipstream from Stroll, and made the most of that. I was a bit nervous what was going to happen.

"I was a bit nervous [going into turn 4 side-by-side with Stroll]. I lifted on the exit," he said. "I didn’t have the most confidence in where I was going to end up or get squeezed to on the exit.

"I had the option of backing out. I waited the next half a lap, made the most of my tyre, the slipstream, I had DRS and it worked out perfectly.

"Then we got a bit lucky with Perez on the last corner," he added. "I would say this concluded one of the best races of my F1 career so far."

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