Team boss feels Norris could emulate Manor F1's Ocon in European F3

That is the view of Hitech Grand Prix team boss Oliver Oakes, whose squad tested the 16-year-old Briton at Snetterton last week.

Norris - who is planning to contest the Macau Grand Prix - is beginning a testing programme and will sample different teams before making a decision on his 2017 season.

"I have known Lando since he was a young karter," said Oakes.

"It was good to see him take the step up to F3 as everything he has done he's won.

"He performed exactly as you would expect: quick, smart, and mature, and of course he is ready to step up to F3.

"I guess the question on everyone's lips is if he can do an Ocon and win it in year one, or if it will be a steady progression - we'll have to see.

"But there's no doubt he is talented and destined for big things."

Mercedes-contracted and now in Formula 1 with Manor, Ocon won the 2014 title with Prema Powerteam.

Norris, who tested in 2015 with the Carlin and Mucke Motorsport F3 teams, was joined at Snetterton by two other drivers.

Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg, who lies second in the Euroformula Open standings, took the wheel of one of Hitech's Dallara-Mercedes cars.

Like Norris, Habsburg also plans to contest the Macau GP.

The other Hitech machine was driven by 16-year-old New Zealander Marcus Armstrong, who made his single-seater debut last weekend in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup - a series Norris also leads - at the Nurburgring.

Oakes, who knows Armstrong through their mutual association with Tonykart, said: "He did a great job, and in some ways he is ready to jump straight to F3 from karting.

"But we have to see where he ends up after his initial races in Formula Renault and what the FIA decides on licence requirements."

Armstrong finished a highly impressive fourth in race two on his Renault NEC debut.