Lando Norris has speculated that Mercedes’ potentially fraught intra-team battle for the Formula 1 championship will allow him and McLaren to join the fight for glory.
The Silver Arrows has begun 2026 with barnstorming dominance, with George Russell taking victory in Round 1 at Melbourne, followed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s first two Grand Prix victories in China and Japan.
It has placed the young Italian top of the Drivers’ standings, with the Brackley-based squad holding an equally unassailable-looking position perched atop the Constructors’ table.
Despite McLaren managing to seal a successful retention of the latter in September last year, the Drivers’ Championship battle rumbled on into the final round in Abu Dhabi.
The Woking-based outfit’s insistence that it would allow both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri to fight on equal terms aided Max Verstappen to re-enter the fight, ultimately losing the title by just two points to Norris, with Piastri third.
And with McLaren showing rapid improvement at Suzuka, Norris envisages a potential similar situation this season, provided Russell and Antonelli continue to be evenly matched.
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“Let’s hope so,” the reigning World Champion smiled to media, including Motorsport Week, at McLaren’s MTC hub last week.
“Certainly, the more that they can battle, the better.
“It’s good to see. Kimi is in his second year in F1, so he’s doing a good job. It’s also cool to see. He’s a very nice guy, and he’s performing well at the top level in Formula 1.
“He’s had a good few races, so it’s good to see that he’s kind of found that extra bit of pace and battling George convincingly, which is cool, but it’s a good thing for us.
“We know we were a little bit on the back foot at the beginning of the season. We certainly hope that we can catch up, and the more points they can take away from each other, the better – the same like us [he and Piastri, ed.] last year and Max in a fight.
“Hopefully it can be a similar story the other way around.”
It will be intriguing to see whether McLaren’s momentum can continue in Miami, where F1 returns this week, and whether the “refinements” to the new radical technical regulations will see a levelling of the playing field.
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