Lando Norris caught off-guard after surprise Mercedes achievement

Lando Norris has revealed how he was caught completely by surprise by how close he managed to remain to the Mercedes drivers during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The reigning world champion started fourth but quickly dropped comfortably off the back of the top three before suddenly coming back into contention.

Norris spent large portions of the race within striking distance of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, particularly whenever the Mercedes duo started battling too hard.

It left the McLaren driver in a position to capitalise and steal a podium after Antonelli was forced into a shock late retirement following yet another reliability issue for the Silver Arrows.

For Norris, it marked the first race he had finished since Miami after back-to-back reliability-related retirements of his own, representing a positive step for both him and the team.

He took considerable confidence from Barcelona given how close he remained to the Mercedes pair, but is aware that the next step is to put himself in a position to fight them on track.

Asked how much confidence can be taken from the podium, Norris replied: "Quite a bit actually. I just wasn’t expecting to be… It wasn’t like I was fighting the Mercedes, but I was always there. 

"I wasn’t far behind at all, and I probably wasn’t expecting to be quite that close for the whole race, especially because after the first stint, I think I was already like, I don’t know, 12 seconds behind George. 

"So, the fact we kind of pulled things around and we seemed to be stopping on good laps and things like that, I think shows good signs. So, I was pretty happy with the race. 

"I think it was clear how much more I had to push comparing to them in kind of the first parts of, you know, the first third and second third of a stint, because it was clear how much more I deg’d off after in the final third of a stint. But the fact I was there so close shows some good positives for us as a team. 

"A better day than I was expecting. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be on the podium, so it’s just nice to be back here, nice to finish a race. I’ve not seen a chequered flag for a while, so it’s good to be here and just nice to reward the team once again."