Lando Norris has defended McLaren’s overall progress during the Formula 1 season ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix, highlighting the team’s strong development after starting the year far behind their rivals.
Assessing the Season’s Progress
Reflecting on the team’s campaign, Norris explained that McLaren has performed well when viewed from a broader perspective, despite holding themselves to extremely high standards and wanting to win every possible event.
“So I think we’ve had a pretty good year, if we want to look at it from that perspective. Of course, we hold ourselves to a very high level, and we want to win everything we can,” said Norris.
“We started a long way behind at the beginning of the season, and we’ve done a good job to catch up. We’ve done better than the majority of other teams on the grid.”
The Battle With Red Bull
McLaren currently sits equal on points with Red Bull for third place in the constructors’ standings, with two recent victories by Max Verstappen playing a crucial role in closing the gap.
Teammate Oscar Piastri admitted that maintaining an advantage over Red Bull for the remainder of 2026 will be difficult, noting that McLaren’s development focus is already shifting toward 2027, though he remains optimistic about the fight.
“You just have to keep fighting. I think at the moment we know we’re not as competitive consistently as Red Bull are, but we’re adding performance to the car still, and there’s a lot of things that can happen,” Piastri stated.
Piastri pointed out that mechanical reliability has been a major discussion point throughout the season, leaving various avenues for the championship battle to shift. He acknowledged that on pure performance, the team still needs to find improvement and expects upcoming car upgrades to assist with that goal.
“I think for us, it’s going to be a big challenge to stay ahead of Red Bull, but we’re always up for it,” Piastri added.
