Norris issues verdict on Red Bull's resurgence after Verstappen's charge in Austria

Red Bull, who had entered the weekend at the Styrian mountains with a major upgrade package to the RB22 car, proved to be on par and sometimes quicker than the front-running Mercedes through the 71-lap race. The outing at the Austrian Grand Prix culminated in a second-place finish for Max Verstappen, just 1.6 seconds behind George Russell, who took first place.

In the aftermath of the race, however, when posed with the question about how surprised he was with the surge in performance shown by the Red Bull team, Norris admitted to not being particularly surprised. While lauding the team’s overall outing, the McLaren driver noted how Red Bull had largely been quick and were just a little refinement away from reaching the results it achieved in Austria.

“I mean, maybe for them to be as competitive, I think you can't be surprised. They're still Red Bull, they're still an incredible team, and it's not like they were bad before. They can still have some very good performances, and they finished fourth or second in Montreal, things like this, so it's not like they had a bad car. It's just they struggled in some races, and this was maybe one that threw some, especially with the very high top speed that they have and good high-speed cornering. So, just waiting to see a few races, but they did a good job, so hats off to them,” Norris told GPblog, among other outlets.

While it wasn’t a particularly surprising showing for Norris regarding the Red Bull Racing outfit, the reigning world champion was particularly surprised by the display of the Scuderia Ferrari outfit.

The McLaren driver noted how particularly challenging it must have felt for the drivers to keep pushing in such sweltering conditions, and considering the lack of power the SF-26 car was plagued with throughout the duration of the race.

“The shock was pretty Ferrari today, struggling so much. So, to be honest I feel bad for them. I mean, when you have no power, you have to push like hell in the straights, in the corners, and you can't do that with these front tyres, you know. So it's a tough race for them,” Norris noted.

It wasn’t a particularly impressive race for Norris, as he could only muster a seventh-place finish on his end. Teammate Oscar Piastri proved the brightest of the McLarens with a fourth-place finish for the papaya-coloured outfit.