Lando Norris has made it clear that he is still in the hunt for the championship and believes the burden now rests squarely on the shoulders of current points leader Kimi Antonelli. After delivering McLaren’s first Grand Prix victory of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris sits fifth in the drivers’ standings, trailing Antonelli by 91 points with eleven races left to run. The British driver reflected on the situation, telling Sky Sports F1 that the pressure is "on him [Antonelli] for sure" while he feels no weight on his own shoulders.

"I’ve been feeling very confident," Norris said, underscoring his belief that a strong finish is still within reach. Norris’s comments echo a familiar narrative from the previous year, when Max Verstappen found himself 104 points behind the leader with ten races remaining and ultimately missed the title by just two points, which was claimed by Norris himself.

That experience appears to have given the McLaren driver a clear perspective on how a championship can swing in the final third of the season. The Hungarian triumph was built on a package of upgrades that McLaren introduced for the race, most notably a completely new floor that has injected a substantial amount of pace into the car.

Norris praised the work of the team, noting that while Mercedes has made more mistakes, McLaren has been more consistent and has managed to stay at the front of the pack. "We expect Mercedes to still win races and we expect ourselves to win more races," he said. "From here on we have to be perfect for the rest of the year." He also highlighted the need for continual development, saying the team must keep improving the car to replicate the Hungarian performance at every circuit. "We were certainly the quickest in Hungary from qualifying to the race.

Not every race is going to be this simple, and we need to work hard to get the car to be this good everywhere. If we can, maybe that’s a genuine question." Team principal Andrea Stella reinforced the message, pointing out that the 2026 season has turned into a relentless race of upgrades. "The good news is that McLaren is now back in this race of upgrades while fighting for the lead," Stella explained.

He added that the car that ends the season as the fastest will likely have added tenths of a second at each of the remaining eleven events, perhaps even half a second overall. This, he warned, means a massive amount of work lies ahead for every team, not just McLaren.

During the Hungarian race, Norris found himself stuck behind his teammate Oscar Piastri after the opening lap, despite clearly having a speed 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.

Prior to that, Norris had told his engineers over the radio that he felt "miles faster" and wanted to pit first. When asked about the intra‑team dynamics, Norris emphasized the importance of teamwork.

"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 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 also described a moment when he was held up by Oscar while Max Verstappen was only three or four seconds behind, noting that Verstappen remained a threat. "Ahead there’s no threat, and we have a lot more of a guarantee that we’ll win as a team anyway," Norris explained.

He decided to undercut Piastri, believing his pace was strong enough to create a full pit‑stop window advantage. "It was just in the best interests of the team," he added, acknowledging that the team had to balance individual ambition with collective goals.

Norris has generally enjoyed the upper hand over Piastri in recent outings, and many observers feel he is performing at a level comparable to his world‑champion season last year. He admitted he is still trying to understand why his pace advantage was so pronounced in Hungary, but hopes the feeling will persist after the summer break. "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 now in 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." When pressed about the source of his improvement, Norris credited hard work from both himself and his engineering team. "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," he concluded.

Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar resumes after the summer hiatus with a sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix from August 21‑23. All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, and fans can stream the coverage via NOW without a long‑term contract. Norris’s ambition remains clear: keep pressing forward, extract every ounce of performance from the upgraded McLaren, and keep the pressure where it belongs – on Antonelli and the rest of the field – as the championship battle heads into its decisive final stretch.