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McLaren delighted with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz partnership

Young team-mates impressing new boss Andreas Seidl as McLaren's renaissance continues in F1 2019

McLaren have described Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz as the "future of this team" amid their ongoing revival up the Formula 1 grid.

The Woking team outfit head into their home British GP next week on the back of their best run of form for several years, achieving consecutive double points finishes for just the second time since 2014 in the France and Austria double-header.

With an improved car this year, fourth-placed McLaren are already within 10 points of their total from 2018 and recently-installed team boss Andreas Seidl has been impressed with the new driving recruits.

"I'm very happy with both drivers and they will be the future of this team," said Seidl at the Red Bull Ring.

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Both McLaren drivers were in high spirits after finishing their race in the top 10 during the Austrian GP

While 24-year-old Sainz is now relatively experienced despite his youthful age, British team-mate Norris is F1 2019's youngest driver and only turns 20 in the final weeks of the season.

The rookie qualified in the top six twice in the last fortnight and Seidl says the Englishman is an example of the "new generation" of drivers arriving in the sport.

"The most important thing is raw speed, that is the base for every successful driver. He has shown from the first race onwards that he had this speed," said the McLaren team principal.

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"If you go in your first-ever F1 qualifying [in Australia] and you go to Q3 straight away and score P8, and then do it more and more often, so it was not just a one-off.

"He's showing also that he has some great speed and great handling of the races in this environment, it's impressive. He is a guy who is a new generation of racing drivers, I'm impressed also how he interacts with me, the team, the engineers, and how he's handling all the business of being a Formula 1 driver."

Norris, runner up in last year's F2 series, has achieved four points finishes in eight grands prix so far, and Seidl added: "[It's] really impressive how he's dealing with that in his young age, and I think he will have a great career in Formula 1. I'm looking forward to have some good years with him at McLaren."

After awesome Austria, F1 2019 heads to Silverstone for the big event of the motorsport summer. Sky Sports F1 will have extensive coverage of the July 11-14 event with eight live shows featuring our expert team of pundits and presenters. Find out more here to watch all the season live.

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