Lando Norris says McLaren have plenty of hard work in 2026 Formula 1 season

While having the best F1 power unit bolted to the back of their MCL40, Mercedes', McLaren have struggled for pace and reliability so far this season.

They haven't been able to extract the max performance from the power unit, while reliability issues meant Norris lost track time in practice sessions, and neither he nor Piastri could start the Chinese Grand Prix due to technical gremlins with their power mills.

At a recent Pirelli tyre test at the Nürburgring, the defending F1 Champion reflected on the start of his season; he told McLaren's official website: "It’s not been the start of the season we had hoped for, and we’ve had some difficult weekends so far.

"Obviously, coming into the year as defending Champions both as a team and as a driver, the expectations we set ourselves are high. We want to be taking Pole positions, winning races, and leading both Championships, but that’s not where we are.

"We’re not in a terrible position," the Briton pointed out, "but we’ve definitely got to work to get back in contention for wins, and even then, we need to keep going to make sure we’ve got a car capable of winning every single weekend."

The new regulations mean all the teams have a steep learning curve, especially when it comes to maximizing the potential of the new power units that are heavily reliant on algorithms in their operation, which also means track time is king.

Norris commented: "We’ve also had some issues that really haven’t helped our development of these cars.

"One thing we realized very early is that time in the car and getting laps on the board are so important when it comes to learning how to get the most out of the car and, specifically, the power unit.

"Tiny, tiny margins make significant differences. Combine that with the fact that we didn’t start the Grand Prix in China and that we didn’t get enough track time during practice in Japan, and it’s easy to see where we’re lacking," he explained.

Like all their rivals, McLaren are trying to benefit from the imposed April break following the cancellation of F1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the Middle East war.

Norris revealed: "However, we’re using this gap between Japan and Miami to do what we can to fill that gap in our understanding.

"We’re putting a lot of time in on the sim, and we’re back behind the wheel for a tyre test at the Nürburgring.

"Despite that test being focused on tyres for next year, time behind the wheel is certainly never going to hurt," he maintained.

Miami will show the results of McLaren's efforts over the break, and despite two races being cancelled, the 2026 F1 season remains a long one, and Norris is optimistic his team can improve.

"I think we can have a good season, even if we’re not where we want to be right now," he predicted. "And although we haven’t started the season where we want to be, we still want to push hard for the Championship.

"This isn’t a case of giving up and focusing on next year—I'm not sure if that approach ever really works. There’s plenty of examples where we’ve not quite been where we want to be at the start of the year but have ended up in a much stronger position by the end—2023, 2024, and so on—and we’re a stronger team now than we were then.

"We’ve been there, done it, learned from it, and I trust that this team knows how to do it again. Plenty of hard work ahead, but we’re ready for it," Norris concluded.