After two wins, Lando Norris knows exactly the limits of his McLaren: One weakness of the MCL40, in particular, is dampening his hopes for the world championship title
McLaren driver Lando Norris, despite recently securing two pole positions and two Grand Prix victories at the Hungaroring and in Zandvoort, does not believe he has a realistic chance at the title in the 2026 Formula 1 season: “It’s not like last year, when we were actually pretty good everywhere,” Norris said. That’s because his current McLaren MCL40 is only very strong “in certain areas.”
The car really shines in fast sections, Norris explained. “That’s where we’ve improved the most, and no one can keep up with us there. That’s obviously good.”
At Zandvoort, this was particularly evident in Turns 7 and 8—the two challenging right-hand turns at the start of the second sector. There, McLaren had an “incredible pace advantage” over Mercedes.
Data from GP-Tempo confirms this: That section was where McLaren showed its greatest dominance during qualifying at Zandvoort. Norris gained about one-tenth of a second there on championship leader Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes.
Where McLaren is (still) at a disadvantage with the MCL40
But according to Norris, that’s only one side of the coin: “Similarly, Mercedes has an incredible pace advantage over us in slow corners.” And that’s the reason for Norris’s caution when he talks about the rest of the season.
“I’m not confident enough to say, ‘Yes, I can easily fight for the world championship for the rest of the year.’ I just don’t have the car I need for that right now.”
Norris: If McLaren steps up now, then …
He is aware of the implications of his statement, Norris said. “But I think by 2025, I’ll have figured out what I need from a car and what I need to deliver myself. I also know which tracks still lie ahead of us and on which ones we’re sure to face greater difficulties.”
“That’s why I’m doing my part to make sure we don’t let up as a team and definitely don’t get complacent. We have to work harder than ever before—even harder than in the past two years when we won the World Championships,” Norris explained.
The goal, he said, is to improve the car’s performance in slow sections. Then, according to Norris, it would be possible “for me to win every race this season. But if we don’t improve in slow corners, it’ll be much harder for me to believe that.”
And then there’s the current standings in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship: Although Norris has closed the gap with his victories in Hungary and the Netherlands, he still sits in fourth place with 159 points—currently 83 points behind championship leader Antonelli.
