Lando Norris declared the Styrian Grand Prix as "one of the best races of my Formula 1 career so far" after coming through to fifth on Sunday.
The Briton has spent the entire weekend dealing with pains in his chest and upper back which are only caused by high G-forces under braking and in the corners.
But he put all that aside to capitalise on drama for Daniel Ricciardo and both Racing Point's in the final two laps to snatch fifth on the final lap.
“It was very enjoyable, especially those last few laps, just the second stint,” he told Sky Sports
“The first stint I didn’t like, we were just in a DRS train and you can’t do anything.
“And I went much longer than we thought was going to be possible on the softs, Lap 45, and that played into our hands perfectly going onto the mediums as then I had a lot better pace than everyone around me.
Having benefited from Lance Stroll and Ricciardo running off track at Turn 3, after the Canadian tried a late lunge on the Renault, Norris then caught a wounded Sergio Perez between the final two corners after he had damaged his nose against Alex Albon while fighting for fourth.
An extraordinary last lap from @LandoNorris as he passes Stroll and Perez to snatch P5 at the Styrian Grand Prix 🚀 😮#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/87yQtu7xk7
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 12, 2020
“We got a bit lucky with Perez into the final corner, but I would say this was probably one of the best races of my F1 career so far," the Briton added.
“Races weren’t one of my strong points last year, they are something I’ve worked on throughout the winter into this year to see those improvements and to see how much I’ve improved has given me lots of confidence.
“I look forward to the next few races, but I think we have to ready for an even more difficult and tough weekend.”
Having now taken his best two finishes in F1 in the first two races of 2020, after finishing third a week earlier, Norris jokingly said he was "retiring" from F1.
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But he did acknowledge the role teammate Carlos Sainz played in allowing him to commence that charge.
“Today was just a wonderful day, last week I qualified well and had to hang on in there, whereas this week was more of a fighting kind of race," he explained.
“Perfect strategy, good pace against Carlos and we had a good strategy going on between us two, he helped me, I’ve got to thank him because without that we wouldn’t have finished so high.
“An awesome first two weekends, I didn’t think it was going to go this well, but we made the most of the mistakes from everyone else and I look forward to the next one.”
