(Motorsport-Total.com) – Lando Norris comes to the Formula 1 race in Zandvoort with a lot of momentum. The McLaren driver recently won in Budapest with a car that suddenly showed a performance with the new floor that even exceeded their own expectations. However, before Max Verstappen’s home race, Norris makes it clear: McLaren still does not know exactly how much the new step is actually worth.
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“With the new parts we had in Budapest, with the new floor, we first have to understand whether it brought performance everywhere – on every track, every surface, and in all types of corners,” explains Norris. The team is therefore still patient in analyzing the upgrade. But there has undoubtedly been progress: “It was clear that we took a step forward. That is a good sign.”
What was particularly remarkable was not only the victory but the pace that McLaren brought to the track on Sunday in Hungary. Norris speaks of a performance that the team had not shown in this form throughout the entire last championship year.
“The performance we had especially on Sunday was probably almost better than at any time last year,” says the Brit. For McLaren, this is an important signal – after all, the team dominated Formula 1 for large parts of 2025.
Norris: Greater pace advantage than in 2025
It is precisely this comparison that makes Norris’ statements so interesting. McLaren was already able to win races with clear superiority last season. That Norris now still talks about an even stronger performance shows the impression the new floor has left on the team.
“The pace advantage we had on Sunday at the last race was greater than the pace advantage I had at any point last year,” emphasizes Norris. At the same time, he applies the brakes on euphoria. Because Budapest, with its slow and medium-speed corners, is a special track.
Different conditions await in Zandvoort. The wind can play a bigger role, temperatures are expected to be lower, and the characteristics of the corners also differ. Norris sees certain parallels to Budapest but wants to wait before drawing a general forecast from the result in Hungary.
“We just have to wait and see,” says the McLaren driver. However, he hopes that the step shown in Budapest can also be transferred to other tracks.
Zandvoort should show how much the upgrade is really worth
That is precisely why the race in the Netherlands has a special significance for McLaren. Budapest was the first big proof that the recent development work is showing effect. Zandvoort should now show whether the additional performance is actually usable more broadly.
Norris believes that the team now knows quite precisely where the strengths and weaknesses of the MCL40 lie. The problem is rather to consistently reproduce the balance across different track types and conditions.
“It was clear what the weaknesses of the car are and what has improved with the car,” explains Norris. At the same time, McLaren is still somewhat less consistent than in certain phases of last season.
However, the Brit does not see this as a reason to panic. On the contrary: the development curve makes him positive. “We are still trying to understand everything perfectly with the car,” says Norris. Zandvoort is still a track where he feels comfortable. In addition, McLaren has already looked good there in the past.
World Championship title? Norris hardly thinks about it
Despite his victory in Budapest and the fact that Norris is less than 100 points behind the championship leader, the McLaren driver says he hardly thinks about the World Championship.
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When asked if he still believes in defending the title, Norris initially reacts surprised: “Less than 100?” Then he makes it clear that he consciously largely ignores the championship standings this season.
“Honestly, I only think about it when you talk about it and ask me questions about it,” says Norris. “I haven’t thought about it once this season.” Especially after the first races, he saw no point in dealing with the championship.
He also did not think about the World Championship in Budapest – and that worked. Therefore, Norris wants to stick to this approach: race by race, without being distracted by the overall standings.
Norris relies on McLaren’s development strength
The decisive trump card for Norris is not the current championship standings but the team’s long-term development. When asked what gives him the confidence to fight against Ferrari and Mercedes, he has a surprisingly simple answer: “McLaren is the team I am with. That is the biggest factor.”
Norris trusts the people behind the project, the development of recent years, and the leadership of the racing team. He especially highlights team principal Andrea Stella and McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
“The people we have, what we have achieved in recent years, and the leadership we have within the team,” Norris names as decisive factors. Within McLaren, there is currently the right attitude needed “to fight against the best in the world – both teams and drivers – and to fight for world championships.”
The confidence therefore does not come only from the car’s performance. Norris also believes in his team’s ability to advance development better in the long term than the competition.
“My team gives me a lot of security,” explains the Brit. And he also places great confidence in his own abilities. “If I drive like I did in Budapest – and I have done that for large parts of this season – then I am also very confident in myself.”
The biggest problem remains drivability
Despite the strong result in Hungary, Norris still sees a decisive weakness: the drivability of the McLaren. The MCL60 can be extremely fast but still demands a lot from its driver.
“The car is still so, so difficult to drive,” says Norris. For him, this is a major development goal for the second half of the season. Because a car that only works perfectly under very specific conditions can quickly reach its limits on a varied Formula 1 calendar.
McLaren needs to understand how the car must be driven in every single corner type, under different conditions, and during every phase of tire life. Norris has made great progress in understanding the car over the past one to two months.
“I feel like I have started to understand it very, very well in the past one or two months,” he explains. However, the MCL40 has by no means become easy. “I would just wish it were a bit easier,” says Norris.
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