Lando Norris delivers bold McLaren F1 claim about 2026 car

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris believes McLaren has not “gotten close” to the potential of its 2026 car, despite a first win of the season in Hungary.

Coming from having the best car on the grid in the final seasons of the ground effect era, McLaren has endured a tougher 2026 with the new regulations.

It took until Japan for McLaren to score a first podium, while Lando Norris had to wait for his first as world champion until Miami.

McLaren and Norris scored their first win of the campaign in Hungary, though it is 159 points behind constructors’ standings leader Mercedes

“Time is your enemy…”

In a post-race debrief issued by McLaren, Norris was bullish in his assessment of where the team currently is and what it can be capable of once it gets nearer to the car’s potential.

“We still see good potential in the car, and we still believe we can turn things around from

where we are now,” Norris, who is fifth in the standings, said.

“That’s something to look forward to, and that is a positive, but you don’t have all the time in the world in Formula 1 – time is your enemy!

“So, we need to try and bring those improvements as soon as we can.

“We don't feel like we have fully clicked with our understanding of this car just yet, but even before our latest upgrade package helped us to secure the win in Hungary, we had already secured some good results.

“We know from the past few years what it is like when you do understand the car and what

happens when we can maximise the package.

“We don't feel like we have gotten close to that potential yet, so we are excited to really try and understand it completely, which is when we'll be able to maximise things.

“As has also been in the case in the past, we know when we’re not quite at the front we need to work together as drivers to help the team out-develop our competition.

“Oscar [Piastri]  and I often have very similar feedback, and we’re working well with the aim of getting McLaren back into contention for wins every weekend.”

He added: “As a team, and with the car, we’re certainly not quite at the level we want to be at, or we were at last season.

“We have still had some good results, but we also know we’re not where we should be.

“We’re not happy with that; we’ve been disappointed with our own performance, but we're working hard to improve.

“We're starting to see the benefits of that hard work; our win in Hungary came as a result of strong upgrades to the car.

“But we need to keep pushing and keep developing if we're going to continue to fight for wins.”