Lando Norris says McLaren has not yet got to the bottom of its 2026 Formula 1 challenger, despite the upgraded car delivering a dominant Hungarian Grand Prix victory for the reigning World Champion.
Norris took his first pole position of the season in Budapest before converting it into a comfortable win, the first for him and McLaren since Sao Paulo last year outside of the Miami Sprint. The result followed a raft of new parts, including a revised rear wing first seen in Austria but not raced until Hungary.
McLaren has been slower than several rivals to introduce upgrades this year, a season in which the immature 2026 regulations have left far more performance on the table than the final year of the previous ground-effect era. The team’s last major package arrived in Miami, and unusually for McLaren, parts have since been pulled from the car for further evaluation rather than raced immediately.
Team Principal Andrea Stella has pointed to McLaren’s position as a Mercedes engine customer as a factor behind the squad being caught out in understanding and exploiting its power unit this year, something Norris believes still leaves performance untapped.
“We still see good potential in the car, and we still believe we can turn things around from where we are now,” Norris said.
“That’s something to look forward to, and that is a positive, but you don’t have all the time in the world in Formula 1; time is your enemy, so we need to try and bring those improvements as soon as we can.”
McLaren still not yet ‘fully clicked’ with car
“We don’t feel like we have fully clicked with our understanding of this car just yet, but even before our latest upgrade package helped us to secure the win in Hungary, we had already secured some good results.
“We know from the past few years what it is like when you do understand the car and what happens when we can maximise the package.
“We don’t feel like we have gotten close to that potential yet, so we are excited to really try and understand it completely, which is when we’ll be able to maximise things.
“As has also been the case in the past, we know when we’re not quite at the front we need to work together as drivers to help the team out-develop our competition.
“Oscar and I often have very similar feedback, and we’re working well with the aim of getting McLaren back into contention for wins every weekend.”
Norris and McLaren will look to build on the Hungary result when the season resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix on 23 August.
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