Lando Norris has admitted McLaren “need to do better” despite securing a fourth-placed finish at the 2026 Formula 1 British Grand Prix.
Norris endured yet another difficult outing with the MCL40, at Silverstone, on Sunday.
The defending F1 champion was more than seven-tenths off pole-sitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli during qualifying, and the pace deficit carried forward to the 52-lap race.
At the start, the McLaren driver lost positions to team-mate Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and a Racing Bull, followed by a stint posted to the gearbox of Isack Hadjar’s RB22.
But trouble for his rivals ahead, including Antonelli’s late-race damage and Verstappen’s near catastrophic spin at Stowe, allowed the Briton to creep into the top 4, with him taking the chequered flag behind the Safety Car.
Looking back at the race, Norris surmised that he bagged P4 more on the rate of attrition rather than pure pace – something that the MCL40 has been lacking all season.
“Everything but the result, pretty shocking,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I don’t know how we finished P4 today, honestly. A big part of it nowadays is reliability.
“I don’t know what happened to Kimi [Antonelli] and Max [Verstappen] but a big part of it is just not making mistakes and reliability. We got that bit right.”
“We need to do better” – Lando Norris after McLaren’s “poor” F1 British GP showing
The all-new 2026 technical regulations have somehow sprouted Norris’ worst nightmare in terms of driveability from his package.
Norris has scored two podiums this season, at Miami and Barcelona, respectively, but the Briton isn’t flattered by his cameos at the sharp end of the field.
Instead, he conceded that the MCL40 has been perhaps the most difficult of cars to tame in his eight-year long F1 career.
“The pace was pretty poor, so it’s not nice,” he added.
“It’s not a nice car to drive. [It is] maybe one of the hardest cars I’ve ever driven in F1. So there are many things we need to do better.”
Heading into the race-weekend at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps, Norris would be hoping that the team can replicate their 2025 form, and make it back-to-back podiums for the Briton at the Belgian GP.
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