F1 champion Lando Norris admits McLaren ‘didn’t do enough’ to tackle 2026 challenge

Lando Norris

F1 champion Lando Norris admits McLaren ‘didn’t do enough’ to tackle 2026 challenge

A title fight is out of sight for defending champion Norris at present

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 16 March 2026 08:25

Reigning F1 champion Lando Norris has delivered a frank verdict on what is holding McLaren back in 2026.

The all-conquering papaya team went from dominating the 2025 season to finishing 51 seconds behind Australian GP race winner George Russell in the opening round of the campaign.

Earlier in the Melbourne weekend, McLaren were forced to retire Norris' car during FP1 due to gearbox related issues, with his title defence getting off to the worst possible start.

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The Woking-based squad are one of the four teams powered by Mercedes power units in 2026, and the Silver Arrows dominated in Melbourne with Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli securing a one-two.

Speaking in Australia, McLaren's team principal Andrea Stella discussed Mercedes' engine advantage and admitted to being on the 'back foot' when it comes to knowledge about their new power unit.

Norris then corroborated Stella's comments when speaking to the media in Shanghai, admitting the team 'hasn't done enough' yet to understand the new car and power unit.

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Norris on McLaren 2026 weaknesses

When asked if the performance deficit was down to the power unit or the chassis, F1's newest champion responded: "It’s both. It’s understanding of power unit, we haven’t done as good of a job as we should have done.

"So our own understanding is not to the level we want it to be at and the team have worked very hard to improve that

"But the chassis is not to the level we want it to be at. It’s certainly not bad - we are certainly not miles away and not as far as it almost looked in Melbourne - but we need to improve it more. We know that. We know where we’re stronger, where we’re weaker."

Norris then addressed how McLaren can get more out of the Mercedes engine, adding: "Some things that we need more of from a software point of view but at the same time there’s plenty of things we didn’t do good enough as a team.

"We have no one to blame for that. It’s just that we could have done better, we should have done better, and the team are working hard to make sure they do better, as well as me, this weekend."

McLaren not in the fight after Chinese GP

Sadly, the papaya F1 outfit did not do better in Shanghai, with neither Norris nor his team-mate Oscar Piastri making it to the start line in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Norris didn't make it out of the pits and onto the grid before the pit lane exit closed, with the team citing electrical issues as engineers and mechanics buzzed around his new papaya car.

As the Brit's side of the garage battled to get the reigning champion's car ready to start from the pit lane, Piastri was dramatically wheeled back into the pits with just minutes to spare before lights out, with neither car going on to start the second round of the championship.

Poor Piastri is yet to complete a grand prix lap in 2026 after crashing on his way to the start grid in front of the home crowd at the season opener.

When is the next F1 race?

After a very fast turnaround following the 2026 season opener, McLaren can breathe easy for a moment given there is now a week off until the third round of the championship.

The next race is not until Sunday, March 19 in Suzuka as the Japanese Grand Prix returns before a long break in April following confirmation from F1 that both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian gps have been cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

View full biography

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