“You don’t have all the time in the world” – F1 champ gives McLaren a friendly heads-up after GP win.
Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has told his rivals that McLaren still has plenty more to show this season.
Norris earned his first win of the 2026 F1 season last month in Hungary, which was a big boost for McLaren during what has sometimes been a tough year for the team.
His win at the Hungaroring was just McLaren’s fifth podium so far, putting them third in the constructors’ championship behind Mercedes and the improving Ferrari team.
Norris scored 25 points by winning from pole position in Hungary. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, led most of the race, but Norris’s consistent speed let him pass Piastri, even though McLaren chose not to use team orders to switch their positions.
Piastri later retired due to a gearbox failure, and Norris went on to win by more than 15 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen and 2026 drivers’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
After the race, Norris shared his thoughts with McLaren, as reported by Crash.
“We still see lots of potential in the car, and we believe we can turn things around from where we are now,” he said.
“That’s exciting, but in Formula 1, time is limited, so we need to make improvements as soon as possible.
We don’t think we fully understand the car yet. Even before our latest upgrades helped us win in Hungary, we had already seen some good results.”
Norris is currently in fifth place in the drivers’ standings in a tight battle, especially after teenager Antonelli dominated the early part of the season.
Antonelli, after finishing second in Australia, went on to win five races in a row — in China, Japan, Miami, Canada, and Monaco — tightening his grip on the title race.
Though his lead shrank a bit in Barcelona and Silverstone, Antonelli’s wins and podiums, including a victory at Spa, have pushed him further ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari.
At the summer break, Antonelli leads by 50 points, with Norris, the faster McLaren driver, trailing 91 points behind him. Piastri has yet to win a race or score over 100 points this season.
“As a team, and with the car, we’re not quite where we want to be or were last season,” admitted Norris, the 2025 champion and 12-time GP winner.
“We’ve had some good results, but we know we should be doing better. We’re not happy with that and have been disappointed with our performance, but we’re working hard to improve.”
The F1 season will restart on August 23 at Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands, where Norris took his second-ever GP win in 2024.