Norris fires Aston Martin dig: ‘They’ve made the car slower with every upgrade…’

McLaren moved into fourth in the constructors’ after Norris’ sixth podium in nine races.

The two teams have had contrasting fortunes in F1 2023, with Aston Martin starting the year as Red Bull’s nearest challenger, while McLaren struggled to make Q3.

Since Austria, it’s completely flipped, with McLaren often running Max Verstappen close.

Aston Martin slipped back to being the fifth-fastest team, and in Austin, both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll failed to make it out of Q3.

Speaking after the race in Austin, Norris couldn’t help but fire a dig at McLaren’s nearest rival.

“I feel like we’re in a good rhythm,” Norris said. “It’s been clear that Aston are just, I don’t know, they seem to have made the car slower and slower with every upgrade that they brought.

“I mean, they were racing Red Bull at the beginning of the year and I don’t know where they finished today but they were out in Q1 and they’ve been struggling.

“So I don’t know what their issues are but they were very strong. They had a lot of points in the first half of the season. Second half they’ve been struggling.

“So for us, it’s vice versa.”

While Norris was disappointed to miss out on another victory, he labelled the US GP as “an amazing day” for McLaren.

“I think the main thing is when you look at where we were, how bad Bahrain was for us, how many seconds off pole we were, my six pit stops in the first race of the season, I lost my PU straightaway," he added.

“So there were things which were set off, put us on the back foot from the beginning, and when you look at where we are now to be fighting against a Red Bull, who was an unrealistic target for almost anyone, and fighting against a Mercedes.

“As much as we are disappointed that we can’t go for a race [win] when you put it in perspective of where we were and how much we’ve improved I think it’s still an amazing day for us.”