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McLaren CEO Zak Brown is not counting out a podium for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as he feels that the car showed impressive race pace on Friday.
The team has had a surprising surge in form in the last couple of races. After struggling to even score points on a regular basis, the last two races have seen McLaren perform at a higher level than teams like Mercedes and Aston Martin.
On Saturday, Lando Norris was only two-and-a-half tenths shy of the pole position secured by Max Verstappen, while Oscar Piastri was only a tenth behind his teammate.
There was, however, a sentiment that the McLaren duo might fall the order during the race as the long runs on Friday do not look as impressive as Ferrari's or Mercedes'.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown, however, does not think that way. He told Sky Sports that he felt that a podium finish could not be counted out.
"Our race pace was really strong yesterday. We have been stronger in Qualifying than in the race (normally) but yesterday was the opposite. Hopefully, we can get a sniff of the podium. I don't think we can win it on pure pace, so we will have our hands full tomorrow," he said.
"This is just the hard work of Andrea" - McLaren CEO Zak Brown
Talking about the progress that the team has made since the start of the season, Zak Brown credited the new team principal Andrea Stella for the amazing job done by the team.
"This is just the hard work of Andrea and everyone at McLaren - the upgrades are working, the team is executing and the drivers are driving. Austria we are always strong at but you do think is it track specific? But we have made a step forward and we are in the game now," he told Sky Sports.
"I feel like our season got started in Austria and it feels like we have good momentum. Nobody is sitting still and it's unbelievably close so we have to keep our head down and keep pushing," Brown added.
McLaren secured a strong result in Austria when Lando Norris was able to get a P4 result in the race. With both drivers starting the race in the top three, McLaren will be hoping for a repeat of something similar.
A podium might be a tough ask in these conditions, but a top-five result would be a very impressive outcome for the Woking-based squad.
