Lando Norris has delivered a grim prediction for his and McLaren’s 2026 Formula 1 season following a disastrous double DNS for the team at the Chinese Grand Prix.
McLaren and Norris have endured a nightmare start to 2026, the MCL40 considerably cut off from the leading pace of Mercedes and Ferrari.
Finishing the Australian GP 51 seconds behind race winner George Russell, Norris and McLaren slumped to new lows in China.
Separate electrical faults were found on both cars while on the grid, the Woking marque’s race ending before the start of the race.
Norris summarised McLaren’s findings after the race, revealing the scale of the mountain the team must climb to return to competitiveness.
“It’s still been a weekend where we’ve learned a lot. Already, since last weekend, we learned some things,” Norris said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“It’s also a weekend where we clarified that we need to do a better job with understanding the power unit still, and make some changes.
“And we also understand the car is not to the level that it needs to be to fight for the podium or a win at the time being.
“We know we have a lot of work ahead, disregarding the issues that we had. The team knows where we stand and they are very realistic about everything, so they’re all working hard.
“They’ve been working hard all season, but especially now, they know what direction we need to work in, in order to get back to what we think we can achieve.”
Can Lando Norris and McLaren turn around a nightmare situation?
Norris delivered a slighty more hopeful tone when speaking of the rest of the season, admitting a return to the front of the grid will be “tough”.
Turning season around: “Absolutely. Every year is different so it’s never a guarantee but I have a lot of hope and faith in the team that we can turn things around from where we are.
“It’s still a very long season. After Japan we’ve got a good little break coming up, so that’s probably a good thing for us to try and figure out things and gives us a little bit more time to develop some things to see if we can get it on the car earlier.
“So as much as it’s not the start of the year we want, I have a lot of confidence in the team that we can still improve things and fight for podiums at some point and fight for wins maybe later in the season. I want to believe that. Tough start, but I have faith.”
Norris and McLaren are in a quagmire, though not as treacherous as others on the grid. The team has the best power unit, and a history of developing its way out of trouble, but 2026 looks set to be a recovery year rather than a championship defence.
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