Lando Norris says McLaren can still ‘push hard’ to defend their titles when the season resumes at the Miami Grand Prix, despite Mercedes and Ferrari getting stronger starts to the new era.
The reigning champion has not reached the podium in the opening three races of his title defence, while team-mate Oscar Piastri claimed second in Japan and looked set to challenge for a win before a Safety Car disrupted McLaren’s improved showing ahead of the enforced April break.
With almost five weeks back at the factory to work on the cars, Norris believes there is time 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 currently trails Mercedes’ early championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 47 points.
‘Although we haven’t started the season where we want to be, we still want to push hard for the championship,’ he added. ‘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 previous examples of slow starts that ended with stronger momentum, including 2023 and 2024, and said: ‘We’re a stronger team now than we were then.’
Norris, who finished fifth in Australia and Japan, highlighted reliability as a key area for improvement, including issues with their car and the Mercedes power unit. ‘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 also explained that limited track time has hindered 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 break to deepen their understanding, spending extra hours on the simulator and completing a tyre test at the Nürburgring. ‘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 echoed his team-mate’s confidence, saying McLaren can 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,’ he 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 on May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix.