'Not deal breakers' - Lando Norris bullish on F1 title defence chances ahead of Canadian GP

Lando Norris insists that the next few races are not “deal breakers” for the McLaren Formula 1 team’s 2026 World Championship chances.

The Woking outfit adds the second half of its major upgrade package in Canada this weekend, having debuted the first part in Miami, with some positive results.

Championship leader Mercedes also has a major package for its W17 Montreal, but Norris insists that the short-term relative performance of the two teams won’t necessarily tell the full story, because so much can still happen over the course of the season.

Norris cited his successful 2025 title campaign, which was nearly usurped by a late charge from Max Verstappen, as evidence of that.

“I think one thing I learned after last year, after winning by two points, I learned that every single race matters,” he said. “Whether I have a bad race or a good race, every single point matters from the beginning of the season.

“Even if you think you're not in the fight, by the end of the year, you can easily be in the fight. And we've only got four races in – it feels pretty weird to kind of think we're only four races in.

“The same with Max last year. I'm sure you could say that maybe one or two points, he could have got more earlier in the season, that could have helped out at the end. At the same time, there are a couple of points I could have fought for better earlier in the season, that would have made my life a bit easier at the end.

“I think that's one of the things you learn over the time is even when you don't feel like quite in it, you don't feel like you're part of that championship fight, one point here or there, because you do a slightly better lap, because you pay a bit more attention to something, because you make one less mistake, can add up at the end of the season.”

Regarding the significance of the upcoming events, he said: “I don't think this race, the next race, the race after, the following five, are deal breakers in knowing if we're in the fight or not. Every single race we're in the fight. Whether we're fighting for a win or not, is a bigger question that weekend.

“But every single race at the minute, we're fighting for the World Championship, even if we're 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 points behind, we're still in the fight. So for now, we'll give it everything we got.”

Norris says that McLaren made progress in Miami, and he’s hopeful of more this weekend. However, he acknowledges that Montreal has traditionally been a good track for Mercedes.

“We were certainly closer in Miami, and I think, of course, that that leads everyone to quite easily think that we can challenge them here,” he said. “I don't want to get ahead of ourselves just yet, because we know how good Mercedes have been, and not just last year. Over the last three, four, five years, Mercedes has always been incredibly strong here.

“They also have their upgrades and things, and we need to see how the upgrades that we did have in Miami translate to a much lower grip. Miami is very high grip in general, as a tarmac.

“The tarmac here is much lower grip, so we need to just understand how well the car can translate between these two worlds, and we have to make sure that the upgrades we're bringing this weekend, also help the car move in the right direction, but we're confident they will.”

Norris also stressed that the competition doesn’t just come from one team.

“Of course, we want to beat Mercedes, we want to beat everyone on track. I think it's also a place where you can easily see Ferrari challenge for a good result, and potentially Red Bull at the same time.

“So we're just fully focused on trying to deliver the parts, and make sure everything works and get the maximum out of the car. And if we can do that then we feel confident we can at least give them a good challenge for now.”