Lando Norris has warned McLaren will return to “normality” at the British Grand Prix after a strong two weeks in Austria.
The Briton started in the top three for both races at the Red Bull Ring and would beat both Mercedes to claim his best Formula 1 qualifying result of second last weekend in Spielberg.
Then, after finishing P5 in the Styrian Grand Prix, Norris would be an unfortunate third a week later in the Austrian GP, as a questionable five-second penalty for forcing Sergio Perez off track saw him lose out to Valtteri Bottas.
“It was a lot of fun, it was a good race, exciting, but I’m disappointed because we should have been second place,” he said in Parc Ferme on Sunday.
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“I thought that Lap 1 was just racing really, he [Perez] tried to go around the outside which was a bit stupid, and he ran off the track himself, I didn’t even push him.
“So I am frustrated but also happy with P3, we had very good pace.”
Norris added Austria was “really the first race in many years that McLaren is actually racing Mercedes and Red Bull”.
But he also warned Sunday shouldn’t be considered the new norm for himself and the Woking-based team.
“The annoying thing is so many people are going to expect this every weekend now,” he claimed.
“I’m not getting too giddy because I know we’re going to go to Silverstone and it’s probably going to be a little bit more like back to normality.
“We’ve always been strong in Austria, every year since my first time coming here in F1, but Silverstone was not so good for us last season,” he noted.
“It’s not like I want to be negative. I’m just realistic and I feel like a lot of people are going to expect this every weekend from now on and complain ‘Why are we not quick?'”
For now, Norris remains the only driver to have scored points at every race in 2021 with eight top-five finishes in nine races putting him fourth in the Drivers’ standings just three points behind Perez in third.