Lando Norris says McLaren won’t give up on the 2026 Formula 1 campaign to focus on its 2027 project, despite a difficult start to the season.
As F1 switched to new technical regulations, reigning constructors’ champion McLaren has established itself as the third-fastest team so far. Its qualifying deficit to Mercedes shrunk from 0.862s in Australia to 0.354s in Japan, where Oscar Piastri went on to lead the race and claim second place under the chequered flag.
Still, Mercedes and to a lesser extent Ferrari have the edge, but that’s no reason for McLaren to switch its focus to its 2027 challenger, Norris argues.
“Although we haven’t started the season where we want to be, we still want to push hard for the championship, this isn’t a case of giving up and focusing on next year – I’m not sure if that approach ever really works,” the Briton, who finished fifth at Melbourne and Suzuka and was unable to take part in the Chinese GP due to an electronics issue, told McLaren.
“There’s plenty of examples where we’ve not quite been where we want to be at the start of the year, but have ended up in a much stronger position by the end – 2023, 2024 and so on, and we’re a stronger team now than we were then. We’ve been there, done it, learned from it and I trust that this team knows how to do it again. Plenty of hard work ahead, but we’re ready for it.”
Back in 2023, McLaren was fifth on 12 points three rounds into the season, but eventually snatched fourth place away from Aston Martin, scoring 302 points overall.
The following year, the first three rounds yielded six points finishes but just one podium; the team won six grands prix after all and narrowly claimed the constructors’ title over Ferrari, while Max Verstappen was out of reach in the drivers’ standings.
To put Norris’ argument into perspective, two teams had opposing development strategies coming into 2026. Alpine practically stopped developing its 2025 challenger at the end of May, cementing its position at the bottom of the standings, but is now up to fifth in the current classification.
Meanwhile, Red Bull kept pushing in its unsuccessful bid for the drivers’ championship with Verstappen, and has now dropped to sixth; team principal Laurent Mekies has admitted his squad is now paying the price for that title charge, though he has no regrets.
The context was admittedly different with the regulation overhaul; regardless, McLaren’s successful turnaround from 2024 gives Piastri hope that a similar scenario can unfold this season.
“I’m confident in this team that we’ll be back fighting consistently for wins this season,” the Australian added. “In round three [at Suzuka], whilst there was still a gap at the end, we were able to push the boundaries of our initial expectations and, without the safety car, could have genuinely been in contention for the win.
“We have a lot of work to do to be back at the front consistently, but closing the gap to Mercedes and out-developing the field is something that’s within our control. This team have proven how we’re able to turn things around, and we’re starting in a stronger position than we have in previous examples of this, such as 2024. I have complete trust that the team will do everything they can to get us there and I am genuinely excited to see what we can achieve.”
