Lando Norris reckons his driving has significantly improved in the 2026 Formula 1 campaign, even though he’s unlikely to defend his world championship.
The McLaren driver claimed his maiden crown last year by beating team-mate Oscar Piastri and then reigning champion Max Verstappen, who attempted a late comeback for a fifth title.
But the fact that Verstappen was in the mix on the final day despite his torrid Red Bull at the start of 2025 proved that neither McLaren driver maximised the dominant MCL39 package.
Getting the job done was all that mattered though, especially as the 2026 regulation change has reset the packing order with Mercedes and Ferrari quickest ahead of third-placed McLaren.
So considering Norris is fifth in the standings following his Hungarian Grand Prix win on Sunday, his first of the season, shows that the 26-year-old has so far extracted the most out of his MCL40.
That’s particularly because Hungary was the Briton at his best, winning by 15 seconds from pole to overcome a poor lap one where he dropped behind Piastri but still then showed his authority.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Norris was consistently on his team-mate’s tail, unsuccessfully urging McLaren to prioritise him on strategy due to the clear pace advantage, before finally overtaking through the lap 34-39 pit window.
Once he’d reclaimed the lead, the reigning champion quickly built a plus 10-second buffer and was even told to slow down to save his tyres, while Piastri eventually retired with a gearbox issue.
“Today I would probably say was up there with one of my best performances in terms of extracting performance out of the car, being so close to the limit every single lap,” said Norris, who is 91 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
“So close that the team have to ask me to peg it back a little bit. Although it kind of hurts me saying it, because it doesn’t mean that you just win, but I feel like I’m doing a better job this year than I was last year.
“I have done for a little while and I’ve said that for a while. It just doesn’t mean you win the races, so today when we had a car, when I said I think my performance is some of my best, today proved exactly that.
“I could go out and win very convincingly and be on pole in a good car. So yeah, I’m doing a better job and that’s because of just working [on] many different areas.
“Some away from the track, with my team and some here at the track as well. So, just work in as many areas as possible, a lot of small differences add up and you see the result today.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
It came after Norris made that exact claim heading into the weekend and although it raised some eyebrows, the McLaren driver stuck to his word with a world champion-like swagger.
“When I have a good car like today, I feel like one’s going to beat me,” he added.
Norris’ boss Andrea Stella has also noticed these improvements, particularly because of how after 11 rounds last year Piastri had a 15-point advantage before the Briton’s comeback.
“I’ve been quite impressed by Lando following the way he has reacted to the first one-third of the season last year,” said Stella.
“There were highs and lows, there were some difficulties, there were clear learning points to review and learn from, and he embraced the challenge of doing so. So he worked himself, the first person, the group of engineers around him, all the entourage, it was great work of development from a personal and a driving point of view.
“So I think what we see here is just the continuation of this trajectory, Lando is much more confident. I think he’s much more aware of his tools that he has in his driving, how to deploy these tools, and I think he’s also, let me say, more in control of his emotions.
“Today when he was behind Oscar, he said a couple of times that he had pace in hand, but he didn’t get overly frustrated, and the fact that he wasn’t overly frustrated, I think then allowed him to use the pace at the right time and lead him to the victory.
“So I think we have seen a great trajectory of development for Lando.”
Additional reporting by Stuart Codling
