Lando Norris relives old feeling as McLaren get 'a good kick'

Lando Norris believes McLaren is finally on the right track, although it is "still lacking in many areas" following a positive Japanese Grand Prix.

A fortnight after both Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri did not start the Chinese Grand Prix due to different electrical gremlins in the Mercedes-supplied power unit, the F1 champion and the Australian finished fifth and second at Suzuka, respectively.

Piastri even led the race for the opening 18 laps after sweeping by the slow-off-the-line Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell at the start.

A safety following a 50g smash for Haas' Oliver Bearman played into Antonelli's hands, leaving Piastri to at least become the first McLaren driver this season to finish on the podium.

Norris at least kept pace at stages with the Mercedes pair and Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton before matching his season-opening result of fifth.

Asked initially by Sky Sports F1 whether he enjoyed the race, Norris grinned before saying that, "[You] Shouldn't start with that question."

Pointed out that the car was at least performant, Norris said: "Oscar had a very good race, and even from my side, to get the Ferrari [Lewis Hamilton] at the end, just clean air was crazy strong around here.

"Oscar controlled things very well from the beginning. We both had great starts. It was nice to be first and third and relive that feeling.

"Plenty of good signs from us as a team that we could have such a strong result, even though we know we're still lacking in many areas.

"For us to still finish second and fifth is a positive thing, so today was a good day for us as a team, to give a good kick to everyone, to tell them to keep the work going."

Norris noted that not much had changed on the MCL40s since the previous race in Shanghai, and the results were more a case of the track suiting the car.

He added: "We've obviously got a bit more out of the deployment, the battery, and the engine side of things, so just good signs.

"Some things are still a struggle. We both have the same complaints with the car and what the difficulties are.

"We know we're heading on the right track, and that's a really good start."