F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Norris 'excited' to see where upgrades will land McLaren

Lando Norris says he's "excited" to see the impact of the significant upgrade package that McLaren will begin to roll out at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Woking-based outfit revised the floor of its MCL60 in Azerbaijan back in April as part of a change of philosophy decided by the team. But the three-stage package that will be spread over three races – in Austria, Britain and Hungary – will equate to rolling out a veritable B-spec car.

"Of course, I look forward to anything that's new," said Norris, quoted by Motorsport.com. "And, of course, it's been a lot of work that's gone into it, too. I think we've been quite patient with what we've had.

"We've been chipping away at many other things at the same time. We've not brought a lot of pure lap time to the table over the since beginning of the year.

"Of course, we had the new floor in Baku, but that was for philosophy rather than absolute performance.

“But putting it all together, putting in the work that we've been doing – I think we've been doing a good job with what we've had, made the most of the opportunities that we've had. Maybe one or two that we've missed out on, but that's about it."

In Canada two weeks ago, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella called McLaren's programme update a "major overhaul" impacting almost "every single aerodynamic part" of its MCL60.

The Italian expressed his hope that the wholesale changes would represent "a milestone "in turning team papaya's season around. While excited to see the effect of the changes, Norris is also keeping his expectations somewhat in check.

©McLaren

"Of course, it's not on track just yet. I'm confident it will be a step forward. But how much is the question," he added. "So I don't want to get too overexcited about all of it, like I never do!

"But yeah, it's a lot of work that's going into it. So I'm excited to see all of that kind of come through, and see what we're capable of doing."

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Michael Delaney

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