Lando Norris has made it clear that he is not closing the door on a possible comeback in the championship battle, insisting that the weight of expectation now rests on the shoulders of the current points leader, Kimi Antonelli. Norris celebrated McLaren’s first Grand Prix victory of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a win that highlighted the team’s resurgence and lifted the British driver into fifth place in the Drivers’ Championship, a full 91 points adrift of Antonelli with eleven races still to contest. The situation echoes the dramatic finale of the previous season, when Max Verstappen found himself 104 points behind the leader with ten rounds remaining and ultimately fell short by a mere two points, handing the title to Norris.
Drawing on that memory, Norris emphasized his confidence, telling Sky Sports F1: “The pressure is on him [Antonelli] for sure. There’s no pressure on me. I’ve been feeling very confident.” Norris also reflected on the broader competitive landscape, noting that Mercedes has been prone to more errors this year while McLaren has been comparatively disciplined. “They have made more mistakes as a team and we have made fewer, and we have come strong,” he said, adding that he expects Mercedes to continue winning races, but that McLaren must now aim to win even more.
“We just need to be perfect from here on for the whole year,” he stressed. The McLaren crew has already begun to reap the benefits of a substantial upgrade package introduced for the Hungarian round. A new floor, among other aerodynamic refinements, has injected a noticeable pace boost, allowing the team to fight at the front of the grid more consistently.
Team principal Andrea Stella reinforced the message that development will not pause over the summer break. “As always in this season, it’s a race of upgrades,” he explained. “The good news is that McLaren is back in that race, fighting for the lead. I expect the car that ends the season as the best will continue to add tenths of a second each race, perhaps as much as half a second over the next eleven events.
So there is a lot of work ahead for everyone, not just McLaren.” During the Hungarian race, Norris found himself trapped behind his teammate Oscar Piastri after a poor start. Despite having a clear speed advantage, he was forced to bide his time. The turning point arrived during the second pit‑stop window, when Norris elected to stay out longer than Piastri, effectively overcutting the Australian. Earlier, Norris had communicated to his engineers that he felt “miles faster” and wanted to pit first.
The strategic gamble paid off, allowing him to capitalize on his superior pace. When asked about the incident, Norris reiterated his desire to win while respecting team protocols. “I just want to win the race.
There are certain rules we have as a team, and we can’t harm each other’s race by being overly aggressive,” he said. “But I certainly had much better pace than him, and we had a much better chance of winning.” He added that when he was stuck behind Oscar, Verstappen was several seconds back, reducing the immediate threat from the Red Bull driver. “Ahead there was no threat, and we had a guarantee that we’d win as a team anyway,” Norris explained. Norris’s decision to undercut Piastri was driven by the belief that his lap times were strong enough to create a full pit‑stop window advantage.
“I wanted to box because my pace would have been so good I could have pulled away a whole pit‑stop window on him and boxed again if needed,” he said. He acknowledged the fine line between pitting too early and compromising both drivers’ races, emphasizing that the move was ultimately in the best interests of the team. The British driver has generally enjoyed the upper hand over Piastri in recent outings, and many observers note that Norris’s performance this year mirrors the consistency he displayed during his championship‑winning campaign. He admitted he is still trying to understand why his advantage was so pronounced in Hungary, but hopes the feeling will persist after the summer hiatus.
“The cars are identical, and I’ve just been feeling very strong lately,” Norris remarked. “I’ve worked on many areas from last year. I feel much more confident now in extracting performance, and I’ve worked closely with my engineers to understand this car because it’s certainly not an easy machine to master and push to its limits consistently.” He attributed his progress to hard work, both from himself and his technical team.
“Why? Just hard work. Hard work from my engineers and from myself to improve as a driver and improve my driving. That is the answer,” he concluded.
Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar resumes after the summer break with a sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix from August 21‑23, all sessions to be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. The upcoming races will be crucial for Norris and McLaren as they aim to close the gap to Antonelli, while also keeping an eye on Mercedes and Red Bull, who remain formidable opponents.
The championship narrative remains wide open, and Norris’s confidence suggests he will continue to press for every point, hoping that the pressure on Antonelli will eventually translate into an opportunity for a title fightback.