Norris surprised by McLaren P5 after 'almost crashing at every corner'

Lando Norris hailed McLaren's "good step forward" after a fifth place finish at the Red Bull Ring, but cautioned that similar season-long issues still exist with the car.

With Norris receiving upgrades to his MCL60 car for the Austrian event, the Briton executed an impressive race performance by finishing behind the Red Bull and Ferrari cars.

The result is a stark contrast to McLaren's early season performances, where the team struggled for race pace and could only manage a best result of P6 in the chaotic end to the Australian Grand Prix.

After beating Mercedes and Aston Martin cars in Austria, Norris admitted that he feared a sharp fall from his P4 grid position.

"I was a bit nervous coming into the race, honestly, that the race pace was going to let us down a lot today," Norris conceded to media, including RacingNews365.com.

"But actually, it was better than I was expecting, which is a good surprise.

"Still not great. Like, Fernando was clearly quicker at the end by quite a chunk every lap, and I'm almost crashing every corner.

"But to be P5 shows that we've taken a good step forward. So I'm very happy."

When asked why he believed he was 'almost crashing at every corner', the Briton explained that fundamental issues with car unpredictability still existed within the MCL60.

"You just go to the limit of what the car can do, and the next level," added Norris.

"The car just goes quick around every corner, but the way you have to drive it isn't exactly the same, which is kind of our next issue to tackle.

"Things that we've been complaining about all year are still the same, we're just at a higher level [of pace].

"I feel like I can be more confident that we can really tackle these issues. I feel like they're letting us down a lot at the minute.

"So, it's not just about downforce, it's about the handling and how you drive the car. Not just put load more downforce on it and kind of send it.

"When we do that I'm confident we can definitely fight some of the quick cars ahead of us."