Lando Norris believes other teams will be 'just as quick' as McLaren in 2026

The British driver secured his maiden Drivers' Title after the final race of the 2025 campaign, narrowly beating out Red Bull's Max Verstappen by just two points.

McLaren were able to provide a highly competitive car for their drivers last year, with the MCL39 clearly the fastest overall package for the vast majority of the 24 rounds.

However, there are question marks as to whether the Woking-based outfit's domination will continue into 2026, largely owing to a complete overhaul of the technical regulations for the upcoming season.

Many expect the relative performance of the 11 teams on the grid to mix up this year, and there's no guarantee that McLaren will remain at the head of the field.

Nevertheless, defending Champion Norris is confident that he will be fighting right at the front once he rocks up at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Norris spoke at length about his expectations for the season ahead, and was keen to stress just how confident he is that he and McLaren will hit the ground running when the campaign commences.

He told media, including GrandPrix247, at a Press Conference in the McLaren Technology Centre on Tuesday: "I have good confidence the team will produce a good car.

"Work started early last year, with people focusing on last year’s car and people focusing on this year’s car. Are we perfect, no, there are things you wish you could do better.

"But I won the championship by 2 points. That last upgrade might have given me a position and 2 points. So you cannot win in every situation," stated Norris.

However, the 26-year-old also expects other teams to be right up there with McLaren from the start.

He continued: "I believe in my team. They won the last 2 Constructors’ Championships for a reason. We believe we can continue strong results into new regulations.

"But there will be people just as quick, and potentially quicker. Mercedes looked strong, Red Bull and Ferrari looked strong. I expect the 4 teams to be quick as usual.

The McLaren driver also weighed in on the handling characteristics of the new cars, stating that it reminded him of when he drove Formula 2 machinery.

He said: "For me, it feels more like an F2 car in some ways.

"We understood quite a few things in Barcelona, but Barcelona is more open corners. When you get to street tracks, bumpier tracks, slower tracks, that is yet to be answered. Bahrain will answer some.

"It will be a learning curve. I have confidence in myself and my team, but it will be a learning curve for both, as it will be for everyone," concluded Norris.