Lando Norris remains confident that McLaren can make the necessary improvements to its current Formula 1 car and challenge for the 2026 world championship.
Speaking to Sky Sports after announcing a contract extension with McLaren through the end of 2030, the British driver assessed the team’s prospects in the current championship campaign.
McLaren endured a difficult start to the season but has made a significant performance gain following the introduction of upgrades. Norris has since claimed consecutive victories at the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix, moving himself into title contention.
“Well, we’re trying to change that. That’s one thing I’m certain of,” Norris explained when asked if the car is in a position to fight for the championship.
“The team is working better than they’ve ever worked before. I think they’re working in a more efficient, harder way, even than the last couple of years. And that level was world championship-winning level. So, it’s not that I don’t think we can win it.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Eric Le Galliot
“I’m confident we have a lot of what we need in place. It’s just certain areas on the car that we need to improve. And I believe we can. It’s just a race against time, as always, within Formula 1. But we proved over the last few weekends that we can still win races, and we have very good momentum.
“I always want that little bit more, and I want to be confident that we can improve the car enough to easily say, ‘Yeah, we can fight for this world championship.’
“So, we can easily fight as a team. We just need to improve some things with the car, and I’m still confident we can do that.”
McLaren currently sits third in the constructors’ championship with 263 points, 162 points behind leaders Mercedes. Norris is fourth in the drivers’ standings with 159 points, 83 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Source: www.motorsport.com
