Lando Norris has made it clear that he is still very much in the hunt for the world championship and that the weight of expectation now rests on the shoulders of current points leader Kimi Antonelli. After securing McLaren's first Grand Prix victory of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris finds himself sitting fifth in the Drivers' Championship, a full 91 points adrift of Antonelli with eleven races still to run. The British driver drew parallels with last year’s dramatic finale, when Max Verstappen trailed the championship leader by 104 points with ten races left and ultimately fell short by just two points, allowing Norris to claim the title. "The pressure is on him [Antonelli] for sure.

There's no pressure on me. I've been feeling very confident," Norris told Sky Sports F1, underscoring his belief that the leader now carries the burden of expectation. Norris also praised McLaren’s progress, noting that the team has been making fewer mistakes than rivals Mercedes and that the car’s performance in Hungary demonstrated a new level of competitiveness.

"They [Mercedes] have made more mistakes as a team and we have made less and we have come strong but I expect them to still win races and expect us to win more races. We just need to be perfect from here on now for the whole year," he explained. He added that the Hungarian weekend showed the team’s potential, but cautioned that not every race will be as straightforward. "We need to improve the car still.

We were certainly the quickest in Hungary from qualifying to the race. Not every race is going to be this simple, and we are going to be as quick, so we need to work hard to try to get the car to be this good everywhere. If we can, maybe that's a genuine question." McLaren introduced a major aerodynamic upgrade for the Hungarian round, featuring a completely new floor that delivered a noticeable boost in straight‑line speed and cornering grip. The package has allowed the team to fight at the front of the grid more consistently than in previous years, and team principal Andrea Stella emphasized that the development race will continue well beyond the summer break.

"Like it's always been in this 2026 season, it's a matter of a race of upgrades. The good news is that McLaren is now back in this race of upgrades, while fighting for the lead," Stella said. He predicted that the car that emerges as the class of the field at the end of the season will have added tenths of a second per lap over the next eleven events, possibly as much as half a second, meaning that every team still has a lot of work ahead.

During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris found himself stuck behind his teammate Oscar Piastri after the opening lap, despite feeling he had a clear pace advantage. He eventually turned the situation to his benefit by staying out longer on the second pit‑stop window and executing an overcut that saw him emerge ahead of Piastri. Earlier in the race, Norris had signalled on the radio that he was "miles faster" and wanted to pit first. "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 and wanting to win," he said in the post‑race press conference. "But I want to win, and I certainly had much better pace than him.

We had a much better chance of winning the race, let's say." He elaborated on his tactical thinking, describing how he evaluated the gap to the leader Max Verstappen, who was three or four seconds behind at the time. "When I was stuck behind Oscar, Max was three or four seconds behind, and at that point he's still a threat. Ahead, there's no threat, and we have a lot more of a guarantee that we'll win as a team anyway.

So, I wanted to box and undercut because my pace would have been so good, I could have pulled away a whole pit‑stop window, I think, on him and boxed again if I needed to. Or I get him to box early. I think we were on the fine line between boxing too early and harming both of our races.

So, it was just in the best interests of the team, which they rightly have to say back against me. But I want to do whatever I can to try and win a race, of course." Norris has generally enjoyed the upper hand over Piastri in recent outings, and many observers believe the British driver is performing at a level comparable to his championship‑winning season last year.

He admitted he is still trying to understand why his advantage in Hungary was so pronounced, but hopes the feeling will persist after the summer hiatus. "The cars are identical, and I've just been feeling very strong lately.

I've worked on many areas from last year," he said. "I feel much more confident lately with how to extract performance, and I've worked a lot with my engineers to understand this car because it's certainly not an easy car to understand and figure out how to drive on the limit consistently. So, why? Just hard work.

Hard work from my engineers and from myself to improve me as a driver and improve my driving. That is the answer." Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar resumes with a sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix from 21‑23 August, where every session will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Norris remains optimistic that the momentum built in Hungary can be carried forward, and he is determined to keep applying pressure on Antonelli while McLaren continues to refine its package. With eleven races left, the championship battle is far from settled, and the British driver believes that confidence, strategic acumen, and relentless development will be key ingredients in any potential title comeback.