Lando Norris has revealed his hopes of a step forward for McLaren at this weekend’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, with five upgrades making their debut.
McLaren are cut off from the 2026 title fight, the MCL40 estimated to be up to three months behind its rivals in the development race compared to its rivals.
Spa exposed the team’s weak points, with Norris finishing a distant seventh, almost 25 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.
Hungary marks the last race before the summer break, with McLaren bringing upgrades in an attempt to close the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull
Ahead of the weekend, Norris has revealed his hopes for a more competitive outing in Budapest, as his title defence continues to remain winless.
“We have probably still the best complete power unit package, he said to media in Budapest.
We were hopeful for a good weekend in Spa, and hopeful that it can be a good weekend here.”
Lando Norris unsure of impact of upgrades
However, on the impact of the upgrades, Norris remained cautious, highlighting previous upgrades having somewhat of a minimal impact.
“Just wait and see on the upgrade”, he said.
“We want to be optimistic about it. We want to be confident and and hope that it fixes some of our issues that we’re currently struggling with and are limiting us.
“There’s been a few upgrades this year that have maybe not worked exactly as we would have hoped, so I think we’re just being a little bit more cautious on waiting to see if it works exactly as as we expect.
“If it does, then I think it certainly should give us a good boost and add a good amount of performance to the car.
“It’s a track that we’ve typically performed well at in the past, so I’m hoping as a combination, it’s a good track for us. Hoping that we can have a good weekend, so I’m look forward to it.”
Teammate Oscar Piastri echoed Norris’ sentiment, revealing his hopes of closing the gap to the frontrunners.
“We’ll find out tomorrow. I think we should be a bit more competitive,” the Australian said.
“We’ve got a few upgrades this weekend, so hopefully that puts us a bit closer to being able to fight.
“I think at Spa, certainly in the race, we were probably a bit more competitive than we expected, so that was a good thing.”
Norris and McLaren are taking a cautious approach to their latest upgrade package, the true picture of which may not become clear until qualifying.
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