Lando Norris has said he is “willing to accept” McLaren losing out to other teams in a potential change of power amid Formula 1‘s new regulations cycle.
The Woking-based squad has seen a period of dominance across the last two seasons, culminating in a double-championship success in 2025.
After winning the Constructors’ title in 2024, the papaya outfit easily retained its crown, with Norris sneaking through to claim his first Drivers’ title by just two points which had betting sites the world over holding their breath to see in Verstappen could actually catch the British driver..
Its MCL39 was, for large chunks of the campaign, the car to beat, and will be hoping its successor – the MCL40 – will be able to continue its successful streak.
But the new set of regulations that threaten to shake up the order in ways not seen for many years could put a stop to that, with a still inconclusive assessment of the field.
Norris, who carries the #1 on his car this year, is acutely aware that the brand new cars will potentially have been interpreted better by some teams over others, but is content with what McLaren have done with its own challenger.
“There’s always that element of looking at others, that’s also just part of the sport, is you look at others, see what other great minds have come up with, what ideas they’ve come up with, see how you can learn from it, incorporate it, avoid it, whatever it may be,” he told F1TV at last week’s Barcelona test.
“You always have to be willing to accept that sometimes people can do a better job and you want to learn from them, so I’m happy with the team’s efforts and everything we’ve done so far this year, but yeah, it’s going to be a long year, so we’ll keep working hard, we’ll make sure everyone’s happy and take it from there.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris reveals difficulty of ‘accepting’ F1 title dream ‘a reality’
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