McLaren has identified a “trajectory of development” from Lando Norris that contributed to his victory at the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Norris and McLaren took a dominant victory in Hungary, as upgrades to the MCL40 transformed the reigning champion’s 2026 prospects.
Forced to watch the battle for the lead from afar, poor pace and unreliability have dogged Norris’ campaign, leading to a non existent title defence.
Lows included two consecutive retirements in Monaco and Canada, caused by power unit issues and gearbox failures respectively.
Monaco proved particularly brutal. McLaren cut over half a second adrift of Mercedes at its 1000th race in a car far less competitive than its predecessor that romped to victory at the same circuit in 2025.
Team Principal Andrea Stella praised Norris’ resilience in the face of challenges in 2026, highlighting a change in the reigning world champion’s approach.
“I’ve been quite impressed by Lando, following the way he has reacted to the first third of the season last year,” Stella told media after winning in Hungary.
“There were highs and lows, there were some difficulties, there were clear learning points to review and learn from, and he embraced the challenge of doing so.
“He worked [on] himself first [as a] person. The group of engineers around him, all the entourage – there was great work of development from a personal and a driving point of view.”
McLaren: Lando Norris “much more confident”
Stella confirmed Norris is now on a different trajectory than in previous years as a result of his journey to become world champion.
Giving an example of how Norris applied his new mindset, Stella attributed this to his victory that saw him require to clear teammate Oscar Piastri at a circuit not known for overtaking after losing the lead at the first corner.
“What we see here is just the continuation of this trajectory,” he said. “Lando is much more confident.
“He’s much more aware of the tools that he has in his driving, how to deploy these tools, and he’s also more in control of his emotions.
“[In Hungary], when he was behind Oscar he said a couple of times that he had pace in hand, but he didn’t get overly frustrated.
“The fact that he wasn’t overly frustrated then allowed him to use the pace at the right time and led him to the victory.
“We have seen a great trajectory of development for Lando.”
Stella’s insight into Norris’ mindset reveals a changing approach by its star driver, and McLaren adapting to a new normal.
McLaren may have returned to winning ways with Norris’ first win as reigning world champion, but both driver and team face an uphill challenge in the second half of the season to challenge for more wins.
The car that was only recently labelled as three months behind its rivals in the development race has now taken a dominant victory.
All eyes will be on McLaren in Zandvoort to see if this was a flash in the pan, or the start of a sustained challenge in the second half of the season.
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