'We’ll be there soon' – Norris 'very happy' to finish on podium in Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

Lando Norris believes McLaren have "just got to keep our heads down" in order to challenge for victories again, having finished on the podium in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The reigning World Champion claimed only his second Grand Prix rostrum of the season in Sunday's 66-lap race, having shadowed the Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli throughout.

With Lewis Hamilton claiming his first victory for Ferrari on a three-stop strategy, as opposed to the two employed by Mercedes and McLaren, as well as a late retirement for Antonelli, Norris was left happy with third.

"It was a tough race, I did my best to keep up with these guys [Hamilton and Russell] but [they were] too quick. We stayed there, we gave ourselves a chance if anything happened, and we obviously got a bit lucky with Antonelli going out," said Norris immediately after the race.

"But otherwise very happy, very happy for the team, very happy to be back on the podium, so a good day for us."

With Ferrari joining Mercedes as the only teams to have taken a Grand Prix victory this season, Norris believes McLaren's MCL40 requires "a little bit of everything" in order to close the gap.

"We’re doing a good job as a team, I think we’re making good progress but these guys are just doing a better job, so we have to give credits to them and admit that to ourselves, that we’ve got to keep working hard, we’ve got to keep putting in the effort," he added.

"But the whole team are doing it so I’m very happy with them, but we’ve just got to keep our heads down and keep working, and we’ll be there soon."

McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri was only able to finish P5, having been aided by late retirements for Antonelli and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

But the Australian struggled for performance, finishing more than 30 seconds adrift of Norris and suggesting it was a weekend of big learning for McLaren.

"It was tough, just didn't have any pace. Tyre life was not good. A lot to try and understand from that one and hopefully we can be a bit stronger in Austria," he said.

"I think we're just lacking a little bit across the board. We're one or two tenths off Mercedes and Ferrari and when you're needing to try and make up for that, you pay for that with tyre life and degradation. That was a big struggle today."