McLaren boys fired up for Austrian Grand Prix with good reason

We headlined out Spanish Grand Prix preview: Norris vs Verstappen chased by Mercedes. And it turned out to be true. Ditto the Austrian Grand Prix, expect Norris to stalk Verstappen all weekend, on race day we will see what he has got vis-a-vis the World Champion when the chips are down.

In between, we will contend with the Sprint Race weekend, where in previous ones, the McLaren duo have bothered Verstappen. With a quick car, they could well do more than that. And expect Piastri to also up the ante because he needs to ASAP.

If enthusiasm scored points, Norris would bag a bunch before as his Austrian GP preview testified: “I’m excited for the Austrian Grand Prix. It’s a really fun track to drive, and I have some great memories from over the years, so I am looking forward to getting out there. The fans are always enthusiastic and create a great atmosphere."

“The car is in a great spot, we’ll take what we learned from Spain and use it to keep pushing. We’re not focused on setting specific targets, our aim is to keep improving what we do each weekend and we let the results speak for themselves. Let’s see what we can do," added Norris, who will be seeking to double his F1 victory tally on Sunday in Austria.

Equally fired up for his race weekend is Piastri: “I can’t wait to get to Austria and hit the ground running. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car on Friday and working hard with the engineers to start the weekend on the front foot.

“I was aiming for far more in Barcelona but coming away with points from a frustrating one keeps things ticking over. Credit to the team for the job they are consistently doing and hopefully we can all keep the momentum going," concluded Piastri.

The young Australian has work to do to match his teammate. Norris is P2 with 150 points ahead of Round 11 of the 2024 F1 World Championship standings. Piastri in P6 has 87 so far which suggests a pasting. Optics he needs to refocus to keep on convincing as he has up until of late.

As it stands in the F1 pecking order, compared to the other three Mercedes-powered teams, McLaren is in a better place than the other three Mercedes-powered teams. Better than the works outfit, much better than Aston Martin and in another league compared to Williams.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was shrewd to appoint Andrea Stella to steady the ship at Woking in the wake of some high-profile departures in the technical department. The result is a team that can boast a car as good as the benchmark-setting Red Bull RB20 in Verstappen's hands.

Andrea Stella said in the McLaren preview of the weekend at Red Bull Ring: "We head to Austria for the second race in a busy triple header, having left Spain with another strong result for the team.

"While we’ve had many positive results this season, Red Bull Ring is one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, so we expect it to be very close this weekend. We remain focused in our efforts to keep improving and consistently fight the top teams around us," added Stella.

After ten rounds, McLaren are P3 on 237 points in the 2024 F1 Constructors' standings behind leaders Red Bull (330 points) and Ferrari (270) in P3.