McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella is convinced that Lando Norris is now “significantly more confident” following his success last year—Here’s what the Briton himself has to say
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is convinced that Lando Norris has emerged stronger from his trial by fire in the 2025 Formula 1 title race. The experienced Italian believes that the lessons learned from last season have led to better performances and greater self-confidence in 2026.
Although the reigning world champion didn’t secure his first win of the season until the Hungarian Grand Prix, Stella believes that Norris has become a “significantly more confident” driver since the start of the year. “I think what we’re seeing here is simply the continuation of that development curve.”
Last year, Norris openly admitted that at times he lacked that final bit of confidence. It wasn’t until he won his first world championship title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi that he finally had proof he could compete at the highest level.
The 26-year-old Briton appears to have carried this newfound confidence into the 2026 season. So far, Norris has clearly had the upper hand over his teammate Oscar Piastri—a reversal of the balance of power compared to the first half of the 2025 season.
Norris Is Doing “A Better Job Than Last Year”
“I feel like I’m doing a better job this year than last year,” Norris also said after his victory in Budapest, McLaren’s first win of the 2026 season against Mercedes. “It’s been that way for a while now.”
“That doesn’t automatically mean you’ll win races. But today, when we had a competitive car, I was able to prove exactly that. I was able to go out there, win convincingly, and take pole position with a good car. So I’m doing a better job, and that’s because I’ve been working on many different areas.”
“Some of it off the track with my team, some of it here at the racetrack. Lots of small differences add up—and today you can see the result.” In the Drivers’ Championship, Norris is in fifth place, 36 points ahead of his teammate Piastri in seventh place.
McLaren Team Principal “Truly Impressed” by Norris
Team Principal Stella also sees a clear upward trend with Norris. The key to his current form lies in the way the Briton responded to his difficulties in the first third of the 2025 season. At that time, he had to adapt both technically and mentally to tailor his driving style to the 2025 McLaren.
“I was really impressed by Lando and how he responded to the first third of last season,” Stella says now. “There were ups and downs; there were difficulties and clear lessons we had to learn from.”
“He embraced that challenge. He worked on himself, just as did the engineering team around him and his entire support staff. That was a great development—both from a personal standpoint and in terms of his driving.”
“What we’re seeing now is simply the continuation of that development. Lando has become significantly more confident. I think he now has a much better understanding of the tools at his disposal as a driver and how to use them to their full potential.”
Will Oscar Piastri soon be “very strong” as well?
Stella is also convinced that Piastri is currently going through a similar development process as he continues to get used to the new car for the 2026 season. Most recently, the Australian beat his teammate in qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix in early June.
Since then, the reigning world champion has led the internal qualifying duel—including Sprint qualifying—by a score of 11–4. “We’ve seen great progress with Lando, and to be honest, the same goes for Oscar,” added the McLaren team principal.
“Oscar is still coping better with the 2026 cars, which offer little grip. There’s still potential there to find some pace. Oscar, his engineering team, and his entire support staff are doing a great job. That’s why I believe we’ll see a very strong Oscar in the second half of the season.”