Lando Norris believes McLaren can still “push hard” to defend their world titles when the F1 season resumes at the Miami Grand Prix, despite Mercedes and Ferrari’s stronger starts to the new era.
The reigning champion did not record a podium in the first three races of his title defence, although team-mate Oscar Piastri finished second in Japan and could have potentially won had it not been for the Safety Car during an improved McLaren showing ahead of F1’s enforced April break.
With almost five weeks to work on their cars at the factory before the season restarts, Norris says there is still plenty of opportunity to turn things around. “I think we can have a good season, even if we’re not where we want to be right now,” he said. Norris trails Mercedes’ early championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 47 points.
“And although we haven’t started the season where we want to be, we still want to push hard for the championship, this isn’t a case of giving up and focusing on next year – I’m not sure if that approach ever really works.” He pointed to past examples of slow starts that ended in stronger positions, including 2023 and 2024, adding: “We’re a stronger team now than we were then.”
Norris, who finished fifth in Australia and Japan, said addressing reliability issues that have hit their car and the Mercedes power unit is a key focus. “We’re not in a terrible position, but we’ve definitely got to work to get back in contention for wins, and, even then, we need to keep going to make sure we’ve got a car capable of winning every single weekend,” he said.
He explained that lack of track time has hurt development: “One thing we realised very early is that time in the car, and getting laps on the board, is so important when it comes to learning how to get the most out of the car, and specifically the power unit. Tiny, tiny margins make significant differences. Combine that with the fact that we didn’t start the Grand Prix in China, and that we didn’t get enough track time during practice in Japan, and it’s easy to see where we’re lacking.”
McLaren have used the gap between Japan and Miami to improve understanding, Norris added: “We’re putting a lot of time in on the sim, and [we were] back behind the wheel for a tyre test at the Nurburgring. Despite that test being focused on tyres for next year, time behind the wheel is certainly never going to hurt.”
Piastri also expressed confidence in the reigning constructors’ champions’ ability to return to regular victory contention across the remaining 19 races. “We have a lot of work to do to be back at the front consistently, but closing the gap to Mercedes and out-developing the field is something that’s within our control,” the Australian said. “This team have proven how we’re able to turn things around, and we’re starting in a stronger position than we have in previous examples of this, such as 2024. I have complete trust that the team will do everything they can to get us there and I am genuinely excited to see what we can achieve.”
Formula 1 returns May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix.