Lando Norris has made an alarming admission about McLaren’s potential after a deflating start to the 2026 F1 season for the reigning champion.
The Briton was locked in a battle with Max Verstappen for fifth after falling way off the pace set by Mercedes and Ferrari, with George Russell prevailing in Melbourne following the introduction of new regulations, ahead of Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Norris barely overcame his Red Bull rival, despite starting in 20th, but could not hide his disdain towards his current predicament after falling 51.7 seconds behind Russell and almost a second per lap
“We finished where we deserved to, Red Bull is clearly quicker, Max came from last and almost beat us,” a disgruntled Norris said.
“We made some tweaks, we’re nowhere near where we need to be, clearly, from a car perspective, we’re a long way off, a long, long way off.
“We’re running the same care [as Oscar]. This is nothing that is going to happen overnight, or one, or two weeks time. I was almost a lap off. Not quite. Ferrari, from what we see, have the best car, their cornering speeds are unbelievable, to match that? Zero chance.
“We have to learn from this part of the season, the more we learn, the more we understand, the better we’ll be at the end of the season, I was happy with P5.”
Norris navigated the entire race knowing his points would be extra precious after teammate Oscar Piastri crashed out during the reconnaissance laps.
The heartbroken Australian responded by detailing the shocking revelation over the power experienced in the car.
“We had a bit of an issue out of the pits,” Piastri said. “With no battery, basically, then the crash, it was a combination of a couple of things.
“A large element of just me, cold tires, the exit curb, I also had 100 kilowatts more power than I expected, you put that together and it ends in the result we got.
“It’s disappointing and shouldn’t be happening.
“I got 100 kilowatts more power than if I had been at full throttle.”
