Norris looks back on 'very good job' in Silverstone Sprint with 'anything in the top five' positive for McLaren

Lando Norris admitted he was surprised but very happy with his Sprint third place at Silverstone considering he didn't believe the McLaren car was faster than Mercedes or Ferrari.

Norris finished behind Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton in Saturday's 100km dash after starting sixth on the grid - with a strong launch at the start seeing him surge through the field.

Speaking afterwards, the reigning World Champion explained how pleased he was with how the Sprint was managed.

"I think at the minute anywhere in the top five is good, because to finish ahead of any Mercedes or Ferrari is not what we should be doing at the minute because we’re not as quick as them," he said. "Any time we finish in the top four, it means we’ve just done a very good job."

The McLaren driver had an eventful journey on his way to third, fighting off fellow Briton George Russell at one stage while he also briefly got ahead of Antonelli on the opening lap to run second.

However, Norris admitted he made the call that fighting the Italian wasn't his main focus at the time.

"My first lap and my start was very, very strong and this gave me all the positions basically," Norris explained. "I had a chance on Kimi, obviously I got ahead. I just used my battery to get ahead, and then he just came straight back past.

"I didn’t try and fight it at all, I just let him do his thing because I knew he was going to be a lot quicker and it would have been a waste of my time."

With Norris triumphing at his home Grand Prix 12 months ago, he conceded that the situation was different this time around with improvements still to be found ahead of Qualifying and Sunday's main event.

"There were still a couple of little things we can certainly do better later and into tomorrow," he concluded. "But it was a good race and good points. I gave it everything I could."

Meanwhile, Norris' McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri finished the Sprint down in seventh – almost eight seconds behind Norris – and acknowledged that progress had to be made across the rest of the weekend.

"I mean the first lap was good, just chaotic for everyone, I think," he said. "Yeah, from that point onwards I got into a decent spot, and then fell back again, and the pace in following was just not great".