(Motorsport-Total.com) – Günther Steiner considers the recent statements by Lando Norris about McLaren’s strength to be a mix of reality and psychological play. The former Haas team principal does believe that the Woking-based team has made a significant step forward with its new floor. However, Steiner does not accept that McLaren already has dominance like last season.
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Norris caused a stir before the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. After his victory in Budapest, the McLaren driver stated that the performance of his car was probably better on race day than at any point last season.
Norris was even clearer when comparing the advantage: McLaren’s pace advantage was greater than at any race throughout 2025. Steiner sees this as a message to the competition – but not just a technical assessment.
“McLaren is good,” says Steiner on ServusTV. “But I think Lando is also playing a bit with words to make the others a bit uncertain.”
The South Tyrolean does not question that McLaren has made great progress. Rather, he believes that Norris can deliberately sow doubt among Mercedes and Ferrari with his statements. Because given the close fight at the top, even small psychological advantages can play a role.
Steiner still sees Mercedes as the favorite
For Steiner, McLaren is not the clear favorite for the world championship anyway. His current assessment favors Mercedes. The Brackley-based team still has a slight advantage, while Ferrari and McLaren could take points away from each other.
“I still see Mercedes as the favorite,” explains Steiner. “Ferrari was quite close before, but now McLaren has also come. They take points away from each other. I think Mercedes still has a bit of an edge.”
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Steiner thus sees a classic constellation where the supposed third candidate can benefit: “When two fight, the third rejoices, so to speak. I think that’s happening now.”
At the same time, he warns against generalizing the balance of power too much. Especially the previous races have shown that all three top teams can play out different strengths depending on the track.
“All three can win depending on the track,” is Steiner’s conclusion. Zandvoort is already a good example of this. In the sprint qualifying, Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari were again close together – and with George Russell, McLaren, and Charles Leclerc, three different manufacturers were at the top of the standings.
From fourth team to third force
Steiner explicitly acknowledges how strong McLaren has developed. Especially the starting point of the season makes the progress remarkable for him. “McLaren has certainly become very good from where they started,” he says. At the beginning of the year, the team was still “the fourth force.” Now one can speak of “three leading forces.”
The new floor seems to have actually made an important contribution. Norris himself had said that McLaren does not yet know exactly how universal the performance gain from Budapest is. Zandvoort now provides a first important answer because the track differs significantly in character and conditions from the Hungaroring.
However, Steiner believes that the competition must take McLaren seriously anyway – regardless of how big the concrete advantage in Budapest was. “You know what they can do,” he emphasizes. “They weren’t world champions for nothing in the last two years.”
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