Norris shows McLaren the path toward an F1 title fightback

The dominant start to 2026 that Mercedes had feels a long time ago right now, after a run of just two victories in the past six Formula 1 races.

Ferrari was first to end the monopoly courtesy of Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, and then Charles Leclerc took his chance in Silverstone, but with his second consecutive victory from pole position at Zandvoort it is Lando Norris who has become the first non-Mercedes driver to win multiple races this year.

After taking pole on Saturday, Norris was still guarded about his chances of converting it into victory having struggled for pace in the second half of the Sprint. Following such a strong overall performance prior to the summer shutdown, he admits he feared McLaren’s momentum was already stalling.

“I was pretty disappointed yesterday,” Norris said. “It kind of took a little bit of the fire out of me, seeing how much we struggled in the Sprint. I know it’s just a Sprint, but every point matters and we just really didn’t have the pace. I didn’t have that something that gave me life inside the car.

“Last night we worked very, very hard. I spent a lot of time with my engineers to kind of understand what we could do better today – how to push more, save the tires more, how to do everything in a better way than I’ve done and better than everyone else. And I certainly believe I did that today.

“So apart from the start, it was a little bit of a mix of races because the beginning in the first stint was pretty bad and kind of reminded me of yesterday. But we put the hard tires on and things came alive and the race really started to come back to me.”

Norris had already been able to keep Kimi Antonelli honest despite losing the lead to the Mercedes on the second race start, but it was the second half of the race that saw him truly start to put pressure on the championship leader. As Norris surged on the hard compound tire, Antonelli struggled, but the defending champion says the two scenarios were connected.

“It’s just advantage, pace advantage. It’s just the knowledge of being able to win. I didn’t have that yesterday. I didn’t think we had the pace to win – or we didn’t have the pace to win yesterday. That kind of didn’t give me a lot of hope for today, even with the pole yesterday. Certainly not after lap 1 and getting done off the line, and even the first stint.

“But I know when the car gives me what I want, [and] on top of that when I’m driving at the level I am now, I can win races. I didn’t have what I wanted from the car. We put on the hard tires, we were a bit more aggressive with how we wanted to approach the stint, we turned things around, and I had that feeling in the car that I wanted.

“I went from just not feeling like I was going to win a race to, ‘At least we can force [Antonelli] to make mistakes.’ He started to make a lot more mistakes when I was behind him. We forced Mercedes to do something with strategy. This opened up our availability to push, to extend.

“So, it’s just when I get what I need from a car, when I have the front I want, when I’ve got the confidence with the rear on entries, just when I get what I need to be able to know and predict every single corner, I’m going to win a race. But if I don’t have that, even like the first stint, then there’s not much I can do.”

The contrast between the second half of the Sprint and the second half of the Grand Prix was stark, as Norris was powerless to defend from Leclerc as he lost second place on Saturday, and appeared almost passive as the Ferrari attacked into Turn 1.

Yet when Antonelli was fighting with Hamilton at the same point of track on Sunday, Norris – who had cruised up behind the race leaders – was extremely committed and took the opportunity as soon as it arose to pass both cars within a lap and disappear into the distance.

Patience, aggression when it counted, and outright pace – Norris was the whole package on Sunday at Zandvoort. Michael Potts/Getty Images

Naturally the back-to-back victories - that move Norris up to fourth in the drivers’ championship - start to raise questions about how far he could climb, but he says his experience from previous years tells him where he needs McLaren to focus in order to make a repeat title an outside possibility.

“I’m confident because we clearly have a strong car, [but] we have a strong car in certain areas. It’s not like last year where we were pretty good everywhere. We’re very, very strong in high speed, and that’s the place we’ve improved the car the most, is high-speed performance.

“No one matches us in high speed, and that’s a good thing. My pace advantage to Mercedes in Turn 7, 8 was crazy, but their advantage that they have to us in slow speed is also crazy. And therefore, I don’t have the confidence to say, ‘Yeah, I can easily fight for a championship for the rest of the season.’

“I know I’ve just won two races in a row and had two poles in a row, but at the minute I don’t have the car I need to fight for a championship. And I know that’s quite a big comment, but I think last year I understood what is needed from a car and what was needed for myself. And I know the level that I am now and what I know I can perform at, and I know just what I need from the car. And I know what tracks we have coming up where we’re going to certainly struggle more, and I don’t want to struggle more.

“So I’m just doing my part to make sure, as a team, we don’t relax, we don’t get complacent in any way, and we work more than we’ve ever done before, even more than the last two years when we’ve won championships.

“I need the guys and girls to work and focus better than ever before to improve on these areas. If we can improve on these slow speeds, I’m confident that I can win every race this season. If we don’t, then it’s much more difficult to believe so.”

Fixing such a weakness is not always a simple task, but as Red Bull showed last year, it’s certainly not impossible. And when it clicks, the results can be markedly improved.

Armed with the confidence of his previous championship, Norris has shown McLaren he will give it every chance of fighting for the title once again, if the team can find a way of delivering the step he’s asking for.