F1 World Champion, Lando Norris, admits that McLaren is still a little bit off the race pace. While the team is not where they want to be yet, there is still time to make improvements. As pre-season testing takes place in Bahrain, the teams are familiarising themselves with the cars and making the final changes before heading to Australia for the F1 season opener.
Despite having to improve several areas of the car, Norris topped the Day 2 morning session of F1 testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Norris on comparison to the other teams in Bahrain: “We’re a little bit off”
Last season, the MCL39 dominated for most of the Formula 1 season. The car’s long pace run proved to be a massive strength. During a F1 press conference in Bahrain, Lando Norris was asked if there is still a deficit to Mercedes and Ferrari. He was also asked if none of the concepts that made the MCL39 a good long run car were transferable to the 2026 car.
“From what we see at the minute, no.
“Last year, we also had just a pace advantage. So going into the race, we could almost drive slower, things worked better and then we could drive quicker.
“At the minute, we’re a little bit off, so to match the race pace of some of the others, we have to push a bit more, and then we have more degradation. So not entirely but I’m sure there are some things. I know there are some things that were our strengths last year that will continue to be our strengths this season.
“There is a lot a work just to get the balance in a good window.
“The car worked very well last year. It was difficult to understand but worked well.We’re still just very early days for this car at the minute so we’ll be continuing to look into that.
“Of course, I would love that because even when we had a bad quali, we knew we would have a good Sunday. That was always something to look forward to. The team are working hard on every area that includes race pace, tyre cooling, all of those things.
“But at the minute, we just kind of got to improve in most areas.”
The responsibility of a World Champion
Crowned Champion of the 2025 F1 season, Lando Norris heads into the new season with the number 1 on his car. With seven race wins, 18 podiums, and 423 points to his name, he secured his maiden Formula 1 Championship.
The McLaren driver was asked whether he feels responsible as a World Champion to retain the title next season.
“I would love to. Honestly, I don’t think there is a responsibility. I mean, there is a responsibility always in life, but I’ll do my best to defend it and continue it, but it’s a new season with loads of new challenges. It’s not as simple as just continuing from last year and saying it’s the same thing again. At the minute, we have to improve the car quite a bit if we want to compete a bit more confident for the first race but I feel confident.
“I feel better than I’ve ever done. Certainly after last year and winning the championship last year, that’s given me the confidence. It’s reassuring to know that I’ve done it once and therefore I believe I can do it again. So that’s a good thing, but it’s a long season and I’ll make sure I do my part and together as a team, we’ll make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to do it again.“
As the Briton remains confident, it will be interesting to see where McLaren stacks up against the other teams when the season begins.
