Lando Norris refutes George Russell’s verdict that drivers with “similar driving styles” are performing better under the new Formula 1 regulations.
The 2026 season has seen arguably the biggest technical shift the sport has seen in recent times.
The all-new power unit formula and ‘nimble car’ concept have turned quite a few drivers’ fortunes around.
Lewis Hamilton has found his mojo back, much to the peril of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
Max Verstappen isn’t dominating his Red Bull team-mate in the same way the ‘second seat curse’ had dictated in previous years.
And Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who trailed his team-mate Russell by a massive 169 points at the end of last season, is currently the championship leader.
Russell believes that this “strange” turnaround boils down the how a certain driving style has seemingly thrived under the current rule-set.
“It has been a strange season when you look at the competitiveness of [Oscar] Piastri against Lando last year, Charles versus Lewis and even the dominance of Max against all of his teammates in the previous era,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“This year myself, Charles [and] Oscar are struggling much more compared to our teammates and Max – his teammate’s been substantially closer to him than anybody has in the past six years.
“I think we’ve all got pretty similar driving styles.
“And the drivers are performing very well this year, Kimi, Lewis, Lando have also got quite similar driving styles. So, to me it’s pretty clear with this car, with these tyres, what I need to achieve and the trends are there with, as I said, with those four drivers who I just mentioned.”
Lando Norris cites “adaptability” not driving style for 2026 F1 success
Norris has enjoyed a sort of resurgence with the MCL40 in the latter half of the season.
The McLaren driver made it back-to-back wins at Zandvoort after having won at the Hungaroring right before the summer break.
But when put to him that Russell believes a certain driving style has helped the likes of him, Hamilton and Antonelli thrived, the Briton was quick to push back.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t really say my driving style suits this car,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think my driving style is good because I’m able to adapt better. I don’t think it’s one style that works.
“I don’t think I drive the same way as Kimi. I’ve obviously never seen him. I’ve had him as a teammate or Lewis. So I have no idea. He can probably make a better picture. He’s also not been my teammate, so I don’t think he can speak for knowledge of that.
“My adaptability is what allows me to drive the car I’ve got. I think my strength is my adaptability to different driving styles. Just as it wasn’t necessarily the best thing that I had for me last year, I think last year at the beginning suited Oscar a little bit more.
“My strength was being able to adapt better to then finally understand how to drive it in a better way. Hence, then I was able to have a better second half of the season.
“And the same thing with this year. You don’t drive this car anywhere close to last year, but not even 1% I feel is what my lead said. So I think it’s incorrect from saying my driving style just suits it. My ability to adapt better, I think, is what’s my strength.”
“Odd” McLaren taught Lando Norris about adaptability
Norris had remarked earlier this season that he had had to change his driving style every year since he debuted in F1 with McLaren in 2019.
The 2025 F1 World Champion explained how the Woking-based team’s inherent car concepts have been “odd and unique”.
But that’s what has allowed him to be ready to adapt to the latest rule-set, which, as he conceded, was also different to the ground-effects cars “by quite a long way “.
“I certainly think this year’s car is different to last year by quite a long way,” he added.
“Again, you have to adapt to that. I don’t know if this car is that different to other cars.I still believe it is, because it has been since I’ve been part of McLaren.
“Everyone who’s driven a McLaren has said how odd and unique a McLaren is to drive. There’s been a good amount of drivers that have said that.
“You have to drive it in a very different way. There’s a lot of things that I had to adapt to at the beginning of the year to understand this year’s car.
“But I don’t think I have the ability to differentiate it. It’s a McLaren thing, but I’m 90% sure it’s more just that the mechanical balance, the way that this car is made, compared to the last few years, is quite different.
“The tyres are obviously very different at the same time. Therefore, you have to adapt a bit more, whereas this era compared to last year.”
Norris would be looking to add to his tally of 2026 wins at the brand-new Madring circuit this weekend.
READ MORE – George Russell lays bare blunt F1 title ‘reality’ with performance assessment
Discussion about this post