McLaren drivers are "feeling good" after their dominant performance on the opening day at Spielberg

Having displayed a dominant performance on the opening day at the Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have sounded a positive note when assessing their MCL39's pace at the Red Bull Ring.

McLaren had an unusual opening day at the Red Bull Ring. While Oscar Piastri ran a standard programme, his team-mate Lando Norris was forced to hand over his car to F2 driver Alexander Dunne for the opening session.

The championship leader ended FP1 in third place while he completed a dominant one-two for McLaren in the early evening practice where he set the second quickest lap.

The Australian reckoned that while his car was "feeling good", he wants to make a few tweaks to the setup of his MCL39 for the rest of the weekend.

“It was a decent Friday. The pace looks strong, and the car is feeling good. There are a few things to try and work on overnight to make sure we can maximise Quali, but I’m in a happy place at the moment and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Having sat out the opening one-hour session, Lando Norris returned to action in the early evening session. The Briton did not show any consequences of the lack of running on Friday as he set the benchmark time with a 1:04.580.

“A good day on track to start the weekend. I had to play a bit of catch-up in FP2, but Alex did a good job this morning to give the team important feedback on where we could improve the car for the second session.

"We took some more positives steps forward, so I’m feeling good but will work with the team overnight to make sure I feel completely happy on the limit tomorrow," concluded Norris.

Reflecting on McLaren's opening day at the Red Bull Ring, team boss Andrea Stella sounded a positive note, claiming that the Woking-based squad managed to carry out a series of measurements with Dunne.

"It's been a productive Friday in Austria with both sessions running smoothly today. It was great to be able to give Alex the opportunity to take part in his debut FP1 session as part of his progress within our Driver Development Programme.

"Alex did a good job driving Lando’s car in the first session, working his way through a quite extensive plan of testing with some new parts, some rake work and multiple adjustments of settings on the steering wheel before a solid performance run.

"We have collected important data which the team, Lando and Oscar have available overnight to take into Saturday. Thank you and well done to Alex for his contribution.

“Whilst Oscar completed his run plan in FP2, Lando returned to the MCL39 and was immediately on the pace and able to learn about the car and tyres. Overall, a positive Friday but we know that the field is very competitive, and we will have to maximise all the opportunities," concluded Stella.