McLaren’s Formula 1 title defence looked increasingly unlikely just over a month ago. Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli led the 2026 championship with 204 points, while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had scored 103 and 92 respectively.
McLaren then introduced a major upgrade package at the Hungaroring, targeting the front and rear corner bodywork and adding a new floor and rear wing. The impact was immediate. Norris converted pole position into victory in Hungary before winning again at Zandvoort, where he passed Antonelli around the outside at Turn 1. The reigning champion is now 83 points behind the championship leader.
Although the results suggest McLaren’s upgrades transformed its performance, team principal Andrea Stella believes Norris is also extracting the maximum from the MCL40—and may even be outperforming the car.
“Lando is driving and operating at a very high level, in absolute sense, in relation to a Formula 1 world champion,” Stella commented following the Dutch Grand Prix. “He’s driving at the level of a world champion.
“And like I always say for Lando, what I like the most of his journey in Formula 1 is that he keeps improving. And especially after the start of the 2025 season, something clicked, which is not only a single click, but is a way of working with Lando, for Lando, and that we are adopting also on Oscar’s side now in particular. And this approach has led Lando to continuous improvements.
“So it’s almost like I see Lando stronger and stronger race by race. Because this weekend was nowhere near a weekend in which we could fight for the victory for granted, especially after having seen the performance in the sprint.
“But we invested in trying to understand where was the opportunity from a tyre exploitation point of view, and car improvement. Actually, both drivers improved from this point of view, but unfortunately a question mark remains as to the behaviour of the second stint of Oscar.
“So there’s overall a positive trajectory for both, but at the moment Lando is capable of maximising the performance in qualifying trim. If we think the start of 2025, this had become a bit of a concern that he overcame. And then, when you have conditions in which the car slides in the race, there’s not much grip, he is the master in this kind of conditions.”
Norris has gained the edge in qualifying
Qualifying performance has become a key indicator of Norris’ recent advantage over his McLaren team-mate.
Throughout the 2025 season, Norris and Piastri were evenly matched over one lap, sharing a 15-15 qualifying head-to-head record when sprint qualifying sessions are included.
After Formula 1 introduced new machinery in 2026, Norris initially trailed Piastri 3-1 before the unexpected April break. Since then, however, the reigning champion has dominated the comparison, beating Piastri 12-1. Piastri’s only qualifying victory in that period came in Monaco.
The average gap remains relatively small at 0.128 seconds, but it has consistently favoured Norris as Piastri continues to search for his best form.
Stella believes Norris’ improved mindset, rather than technical gains alone, has helped him develop more effective racecraft.
“If you want to look at Lando from another angle, I would say that definitely he is now expressing a higher level of assertiveness as he drives,” the Italian pointed out. “You know, the manoeuvre to pass Antonelli today is a really good demonstration of that. He’s demonstrating more self-confidence.
“This is interesting, and I quite like it – the self-confidence sometimes is not demonstrated by being the most aggressive. Sometimes you are self-confident when you think like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to have a fight now because I may lose in this fight. It’s a very long race. See you at the end of the race.’
“It’s this confidence in your means, in your strength, that I quite like. Which means that sometimes you are actually the one backing off when the situation becomes too risky.
“We need to remember that in the last couple of races that he won, he didn’t defend the pole position. He was actually second at the end of the first lap. But I did not hear or perceive any decay in his confidence, as to the fact that he was fast and he was just preparing his opportunity to then cash in on his competitiveness. So I think assertiveness and confidence are probably the two characteristics that he has improved the most from a non-technical, non-operational point of view.”
Source: www.motorsport.com
