Lando Norris on his battle with Hadjar: “Impossible to get past him”

McLaren driver Lando Norris could only manage 7th place in the Austrian Grand Prix – but the Brit is taking it in his stride. After all, the race was effectively decided for him following Saturday’s qualifying and the first lap of the race. Norris started in sixth place, dropped one position overall and finished the Austrian Grand Prix in seventh. It wasn’t a particularly eventful race for the Papaya driver.

Position is extremely important

2025 World Champion Lando Norris: “The race was all about position on the track. I missed the chance to overtake a few cars on lap 1. And then, around the first pit stop, I lost a position to Hadjar because they brought Oscar in first. That’s how we sort things out. But it was unfortunate for me.” His team-mate Oscar Piastri had actually started the race at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Norris. However, Piastri then overtook Norris at the start – and, as the leader among the McLarens, received preferential treatment from the team during the pit stop.

No getting past Hadjar

Norris on his duel with Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar, who stayed ahead of him right up to the finish line and proved uncatchable: “It was impossible to get past him again in a faster car. Max’s (Hadjar’s team-mate Verstappen, ed.) pace was strong too; he finished second and almost won the race. Beating Hadjar simply wasn’t possible for me today.”

Still, Norris had some positives to highlight: “Apart from that, the car was very strong once out of the traffic. I simply dropped too far back at the start. Overall, though, it’s a good result for the team. I finished ahead of one of the Ferraris. And we didn’t have any upgrades here like other teams did. The car is still behind the frontrunners in terms of performance, but that’s something we know we need to work on.”

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