Norris: McLaren performing 'better than expected' at Silverstone

Lando Norris says he enjoyed a decent Friday at Silverstone, with McLaren's MCL36 performing better than expected despite the windy conditions that prevailed in practice.

Norris was among the four drivers that topped the lap count in FP2, with 29 laps in the only relevant session of the day due to the wet conditions that restricted running in FP1.

The Briton clocked in third, just 0.176s adrift of Ferrari pace setter Carlos Sainz and 0.013s behind the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

But the gusts of wind blowing across the Northamptonshire countryside made for a tricky and inconsistent session according to Norris.

• Read also: Mercedes has taken 'the fun side' out of Russell - Norris

"A decent day, very tricky in the wind conditions we have here," said Norris. "It’s strong gusts at high speed, so the car is difficult to drive, changing every lap, it’s inconsistent.

"But it’s the same for everyone. From our side I think the car’s performing in a reasonable area, little bit better than maybe we were expecting, so hopefully that can continue into tomorrow.

"We can make a couple of changes and small improvements in a few areas and continue the pace we had today into tomorrow."

On the other side of the McLaren garage, Daniel Ricciardo was ninth fastest and admitted having struggled a bit when running on the soft compound. But the Aussie is convinced there's more to unlock from his car.

"This morning wasn’t busy, just because of the weather, so didn’t have much running," Ricciardo said. "But then the afternoon session was better, and we got a lot of laps.

"Initially on the Hards it started well in terms of feel, and we got up to pace pretty well with that, however we struggled with the Softs quite a bit.

"To be in the top ten is positive, and looking where Lando is, is also positive. So, I think there’s certainly a lot more to get out of the car.

"I think we’re in a decent place, we’ll learn a bit from both cars, make a few little different set-up changes and have fun tomorrow."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter